How do you get to your happy place in the morning? (sponsored)

Since my recent 13-day cleanse, during which I took a vacation from sugar, alcohol, gluten, dairy, and caffeine, I am pretty much still off the caffeine. But like most people around the world, I still like to start my morning with a warm beverage to clutch. Since we’re simply not going to make a pot of caffeinated coffee for my husband and then a separate pot of decaf for me, I have returned to the ritual I maintained during pregnancy: three quarters mug of heated milk, topped of by a splash of coffee. Devotees would not call this a latte, but I’m loose with my coffee terms.

My morning not-latte-but-more-like-cafe-au-lait is sometimes made fancier with the tools in my coffee arsenal.

This post is sponsored by the Milk Mustache Campaign, who I think would be very pleased by how much milk I use to make the coffee taste good.

On October 4 at 10am pacific, we’ll be joining a Twitter party with them (over coffeed milks), and you can tune in with the hashtag #lattelove. I mean, if you love lattes.

Through a lot of random clicking, I learned that I actually am not that far off when it comes to my milk to coffee ratio. See this little animation for details:

The other thing I do in the morning is check Facebook, my Google Reader, and CNN.com. I don’t read it all, but I like to know that the world didn’t fall apart while I was sleeping.

Apart from the blogs belonging to the ladies I actually know pretty well (Wendolonia, Off the Meathook, Superhero Journal) some of the blogs I like to skim are the ones that provide a lot of eye candy. Big images, white space, and ideas that make me want to be more creative. My Bay Area girls mentioned above do this for me as well. But recently I’ve become aware another bunch of local-to-me bloggers and they are doing fabulous things:

• Family Sponge – Jadah won me over by coming to a Help A Mother Out fundraiser. We didn’t get much of a chance to talk, but when I looked at her blog, I wanted to climb inside. The photographs are so gorgeous and the green smoothie recipes are delicious.
• Tinkerlab – Rachelle and I have crossed virtual paths a few times and met in person this summer. She designs all sorts of exploratory hands-on activities for kids and shares them with lovely pictures. If you have a preschooler, add this one to your daily routine.
• Fabulistas – I met Kara at a blogger gathering in San Francisco and she is a rookie mom to one adorable little girl. When she told me about her “project fun” mission, which is to go on outings with Alice and document them, I felt we should link up. At least literally. Like right here. Her site design is bright and her voice is total relatable, even if you don’t like shoe shopping as much as she does.
• She Suggests – While it sounds like a product review blog, it’s not at all. Yuliya is another new blogging friend that I met in person in San Francisco and she is more a humor writer than anything. I mean, maybe she’s more a mom than anything, but from a reader’s point of view, she’s terribly smart and funny. I will keep reading.
• The Bold Italic is a San Francisco-centric blog. The design is uber-current and the events and attractions they cover are ones that I would have been all over in my pre-kid days. I still like to know what’s up, so I like visiting this site. How else would I know that a $450 Burrito Body Pillow exists? Next time I’m pregnant (NEVER) I will sleep with one of those instead of a pastel number from Babies R Us.

What helps you start your day right? If you don’t have one of those little milk frothers in the picture, consider it. I love that thing!