How to Enjoy A Slow Morning Routine in Quarantine
Living Pretty Ep28 // Studio Apartment Living Vlog: Cozy, Slow Morning Routine
Studio apartment living is perfect if you want the cozy lifestyle and some slow living hygge in your life! So in today’s video, I’m inviting you into my slow morning routine for some relaxing, slow living inspiration.
If you’re drawn to the hygge lifestyle, want some cozy apartment decor inspiration, need some studio apartment decor ideas, and want to use a slow morning routine as a way to enjoy your small apartment lifestyle in quarantine, come hang out with me for a morning of soothing cozy vibes in my cozy aesthetic apartment!
Watch the video now!
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I’ve made some slight edits in the transcript below so that everything makes more sense in text form. But overall, this is almost a word-for-word dictation of what I say in the video. I’m a much better writer than this, I swear, haha.
Well hello there. Care to join me for a nice, slow morning in my studio apartment Come on in and get cozy with me for a bit.
Whoops, looks like I fell asleep before I finished my brandy last night. Don’t you hate it when that happens?
And, as usual, I fell asleep reading, which means I probably spent a good portion of the night cuddling my iPad again. There’s nothing like the sweet, mechanical embrace of an Apple product, am I right?
Anyway, in this video, I wanna bring you along for a nice, soothing, slow morning with me. The vibes will be chill, the ASMR will be satisfying, and the scented candles will be lit.
And hopefully it’ll inspire you to slow down a bit - take time for yourself and enjoy the simple things the morning has to offer: that first sip of coffee, lighting your favorite scented candle before you start working, putting on some music that lights you up and helps you focus.
In this time of quarantine, we have to cling to those simple pleasures, don’t you think? Cherish them.
My life has certainly transformed in the past months - as all of ours have, in our own ways. I went from being an Office Manager at a digital design and marketing company here in Seattle, to their virtual Office Manager in quarantine (you can see what that was like in my “day-in-the-life” vlog I did back in May), to ultimately becoming a laid off Office Manager as of July.
So here we are, on a typical morning of my post-layoff life, and I really just want to bring you along for some soothing, cozy, morning stuff in my studio apartment.
And what I hope you’ll take away from this is a simple reminder to slow down and truly experience your precious mornings.
Even if you only have 5 minutes to spare before you rush off to your essential job or get your kids ready for their day of at-home education. Whatever your day holds, try to slow down and enjoy each morning moment.
And if you’re new to my YouTube channel, my name is Steffi and I’m the creator of the interior style blog, Moda Misfit. And you’re watching Living Pretty, the place for apartment lifestyle inspiration and styling tips. So if you love home decor inspo and small space living stuff, subscribe to this channel and hit the bell to be notified when a new episode goes up every week!
Ooh this is where things start to get a little ASMR-y, so I’m gonna shut up now.
How do you like my collection of Red Robin french fry seasoning? Pretty impressive, right?
Once I have my energy elixir, I walk over to my home office - aka my couch - and take a look at my calendar. This is what a typical week looks for me. Not what you’d expect from someone who was laid off, right?
Well, you see, the silver lining to being laid off was the fact that it basically released me from having a day job that distracted me from making Moda Misfit into the online business I’ve been dreaming about for the last couple years.
So now, I’m actually busier than ever - diving deeper into YouTube video creation, upping my social media game, and working on the online course I want to release, which will teach apartment dwellers how to style their spaces based on my own process that I use for myself. I’ve been able to truly devote myself to this venture because of the layoff, and even though it’s scary, I’m grateful.
So, before I dive into Moda Misfit work, I must put on my Legend of Zelda music, of course. It’s my secret weapon for staying super focused, because if you think about it, video game music is specifically crafted to keep the player focused - aka playing the game as long as possible.
I have a pretty sweet Legend of Zelda music playlist here on YouTube, if you want to check it out!
So, today I’m focusing on one of the lessons in my upcoming apartment styling course, which will be a breakdown of a bunch of interior styles and how to choose the style that’s right for you.
It’ll basically be a crash course on interior styles like boho, rustic, dark decor, mid-century modern… and will walk you through how to identify your specific vision for your apartment based on those styles.
If you’re interested in a course that walks you through styling your apartment step by step and you want to be among the first to hear when I release it, you can sign up for the waitlist here!
After working on the course for a couple hours, it’s time for breakfast!
On the menu is a very scrumptious breakfast sandwich my dad recently taught me how to make that involves prosciutto, heirloom tomatoes, garlic aioli, and sourdough bread. It’s very simple, and oh so delicious. I’ll show you how to make it!
After breakfast, I took a quick shower and now I’m giving my kitty Helo some love before I start doing my skincare and makeup routine.
I have a tricky relationship with this one these days… I’m trying to develop more of a habit of getting fully ready each morning, like I did pre-quarantine, but man… it’s hard finding the motivation!
But I want to do it because there’s something to be said about clinging to the normalcy of old routines before things went crazy. When surrounded by uncertainty and chaos, don’t you ever feel like the act of doing something utterly normal and mundane is oddly calming?
I dunno, doing makeup used to be the biggest pain in the ass, but now I almost treasure the predictability and control it gives me.
So if you ever need a little pick-me-up during quarantine, try doing your makeup. It’s oddly therapeutic nowadays.
After the beautification process reaches its completion, it’s back to work on my apartment styling course, this time at my desk because a change of location is another way to keep things exciting in quarantine, you know?
And as I’m working and getting some particularly adorable affection from Helo, I have to wonder: amidst all this darkness we’re facing, is it possible that beautiful things will come from all this time at home? Is it possible that they already have?
Can life in your little apartment in the time of Covid grant you the gift of a fresh perspective? The desire to pursue something you were too stuck in your ways to pursue before? Could Covid be the forest fire that wreaks havoc, yet leaves behind newly enriched soil where new things can grow?
What’s something you’ve been dreaming about? Do you think that this crazy time we’re living in can actually act as a catalyst, rather than a roadblock, for you to start pursuing that dream of yours? Try to think, how can this be your blessing in disguise?
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite lines from a Beck song called We Live Again. It goes, “When will children learn to let their wildernesses burn? Then love will be new, never cold and vacant.”
My wilderness burned when I was laid off from my job. And now everything is new. And things already growing here.