By: M.

My morning ritual of watching The Today Show, drinking coffee and replying to emails has become an exercise in full-blown anxiety. And when Matt Lauer doesn’t make you feel better about the state of the world, I don’t know what will. With soaring gas prices, sinking home values, failing banks, unemployment figures on the rise, Sarah Palin actually being one step away from the White House and oh yeah, the fact that the Dow seems to be in a permanent free fall, things are scary out there. So scary in fact that some mornings I’d like to just roll over, pull the covers up, close my eyes and hope it goes all away. Unfortunately for me, I have the utterly inconvenient task of making a living to attend to and spending my morning in bed watching Regis and Kelly is not a part of my job description. Sometimes we all need a little motivation in the morning and here is what keeping me going:

Reasons to get out of bed in the morning:

1. It is fall. Okay, fall in Phoenix is not exactly the picturesque scene one might imagine. But it isn’t 110 degrees outside, I can wear a long sleeve t-shirt without dying of heat exhaustion and I wore boots last night. That, my friends, is worth celebrating.

2. With fall comes pumpkins and with pumpkins comes pumpkin pie and in tandem, the only time it is socially acceptable to take home a pumpkin pie along with your weekly groceries. You know, because you might be having people over for dinner or something. Or maybe just yourself for dinner.

3. Sex. You might not be having any at all, but the possibility of having some is worth waking up…and shaving your legs for.

4. The fabulously good looking man I see at Starbucks every morning. I don’t know what he does, but I’m pretty sure he has an Australian accent and I’ve since created a fantasy life for him. It is worth noting that his profession of secret agent allows him an awful lot of free time to spend drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. At the risk of embarrassing myself, a glimpse of him is sometimes the only reason to wake up.

5. On the subject of fabulously good looking men, Daniel Craig is alive, well and sharing the planet with us. There is a small, but present chance in running into him.


6. My online shopping addiction means a package could arrive at my door today. I know Suze Orman would literally crucify me, a young professional with credit cards, no mortgage, no real assets, spending money frivolously on fashion, but let me plead my case. Is there a better thrill than coming home from a long day at work and finding a giant UPS box deliciously encasing your new boots from shopbop.com? I think not. And that’s why I must disagree respectfully with Ms. Orman. Yes, I am young, yes, I am fabulous and shit, yes, I am broke, but clothes make my life. They inspire me, they make me feel like me and my half hour of putting together my outfit in the morning is my favorite part of the day (unless of course, I’m having a fat day. In which case, you should stay away from me). So, I say, I choose debt Suze, I choose no assets, I choose shopplanetblue.com, Gilt Group and all the rest, and most importantly, I choose Anna Sui. Because if her fall 2008 line isn’t worth getting up and out of bed for, then I have very little to live for.

The short list: I get up for good coffee, the possibility of laughter, my great friends, Adam Carolla on the radio and the realization that if I survived junior high, I can survive anything. Especially since the money that I could have invested in the stock market was instead invested in my closet…I’m better off than someone who worked at Lehman. Whew!

Here’s my new favorite song (yet another great reason to get up):