Refined. Methodical. With Personality.

To my surprise above everyone else's, I sometimes forget to drink coffee these days.

It's weird to think in the Encinitas house I used to keep my Nespresso machine in my bedroom because I didn't want to have to walk downstairs to get a shot.

I'd wake up at 5am and cross the room to flip on the machine and pull a shot. 

These days... I'm obsessed with sleep quality. Mostly because I wake up exhausted every day. Even when I go to sleep before 9pm (which happens maybe once a week). A combination of menopause and a few different pharmaceuticals being in my body are partly to blame for the exhaustion.  Having a role where my mindshare is continuously fractured across 10 different subject matters and initiatives is also to blame. As well as an obsession of being fed a continuous stream of news.

My brain is always active... Even as I crash into sleep.

And I when I wake up in the morning, my immediate craving is for water. I chug 16 ounces most days of it at room temperature. As I gulp I can feel my sinuses open up and my senses wake up.

Eventually, about an hour later, I think of caffeine. Maybe. 

If my mind is buzzing for things I have to get done, I skip it. I just go...

Walk the dog. Get my AM skincare routine done. Feed the dog. Check East Coast team messages and start troubleshooting issues (this morning's was around Google's Looker Studio running slow for everyone in that time zone).

But if I do have time to pause and don't have to rush... I make a French press.

I've mastered making coffee this way over the years. I know the perfect ratio of beans to grind (and it can not be a fine ground -  it mush be slightly course) to water to boil. And then pouring the water over the grounds requires a patterned stream. And it is essential that things be allowed to stew for a few minutes before pushing the plunger down.

I'm pleased my lifestyle has made coffee a refined and methodical experience for me. It's no longer a drip machine preset to push things out on a schedule with no personality.

I'm a fancy betch.