Put simply, I lack every possible variation of any morning-person gene to ever exist. Since middle school, my getting out of bed — or lack thereof — during early school mornings have been the source of recurring battles between my mom and me. Over the years, these battles have culminated into a plethora of DPs for lateness, as well as spritzes of cold water droplets to the face (yes, my mother is a believer in spray bottles). Unsurprisingly, for me, preparing a breakfast of any sort in the morning is a (huge) feat.

Thanks to my classmates though, I know that my diurnal feelings of restlessness and hunger are not unique to myself. Rather, each school morning, and throughout the day, I am barraged by my peers’ lamenting something along the lines of, “I’m so hungry; I had no time to eat breakfast!,” and/or, “I’m so tired…I got like five hours of sleep total!” However, among this cohort of sleep-deprived, hungry teens, there exist a few outliers; that is, those who miraculously prepare themselves breakfast and actually take the time to eat it before school. Among these anomalous individuals is Senior Karly Eberly, creator of her breakfast blog and foodstagram @goodmorningfoods.

Due to my love of conducting interviews with fellow students, as well as my general fascination with her early morning ambition, I decided to conduct an interview with Karly. Below, Karly provides us with some insight regarding her inspiration, future aspirations, and advice for aspiring food-bloggers.

G: What inspired you to start @goodmorningfoods?

K: I’ve always loved school and while last year was exciting to begin with, towards the end of the year the stress just started to get to me and I realized I wasn’t really having all that much fun. So it was 2 a.m. and I was studying and all of a sudden I was like… wow, this blows. And it’s a silly little thing but cooking has always cheered me up so I thought, all right, I’ll make waffles tomorrow morning and tomorrow will be a good day. And it was! So then I started to make neat breakfasts every day and it was just an awesome way to wake up. I would put them on my Snapchat stories and what not, and eventually I just thought it would be nice to have an Instagram to put all the pictures in one place. The blog aspect I started about six months after the Instagram because I wanted to have somewhere to put the recipes!  

G: How do you motivate yourself to make an aesthetically-pleasing breakfast every day?

K: I figure I need to eat breakfast so it might as well be pretty! It’s genuinely a fun, creative outlet for me and I love cooking for my friends and family so I don’t even think about it as a “motivation” type thing.

I’d say all my weekday breakfasts take less than 15 minutes because I’m a big fan of sleep!

G: What is your favorite @goodmorningfoods breakfast you’ve made so far?

K: I love love love making egg scrambles! There’s just so much variety and different veggies that can all taste so good. It’s fun to experiment with different kinds of butter/oil because it really changes up the flavor of things.

My favorite breakfast to get out is chocolate chip pancakes at Taby’s!

G: What does @goodmorningfoods mean to you?

K: Having a balanced relationship with food hasn’t always been easy for me, and it’s something I continuously have to work at, so it’s honestly a good reminder for myself of how enjoyable and important food is! Beyond just being “fuel” it’s amazing to me how much socializing and food go together across cultures as well as how it ties into traditions.

G: Do you have any advice for aspiring food bloggers?

K: If you are on the fence about starting a blog, just go for it! It’s a ton of fun to share things you are passionate about. My one note would be don’t get too crazy! If you are taking so many pictures of your food that your food gets cold, you may need to re-evaluate.

G: How do you envision @goodmorningfoods in the future? Do you have a specific end goal in mind for the blog/Instagram account?

K: I love how it’s small! [It’s] really just friends and family and a few Internet foodies. I went through about a week where I was super active on the account, promoting myself, etc. and then I had the “what the heck am I doing” moment. I honestly don’t really have many ambitions for the blog! If I wake up one day and it’s not fun for me anymore then I won’t do it! If I post breakfasts and recipes for a few FA kids and my mom for the next thirty years– that’s super cool with me, too.

Having conducted this interview, I can’t help but feel inspired to start planning out quick nutritious breakfasts before school. Realistically, though, this will probably be short-lived. (My mother agrees). For now, I will continue to live my breakfast-less mornings vicariously through Karly’s colorful array of breakfasts, scrolling through one Instagram post at at a time.

Thank you for being you, Karly!

Make sure to check out Karly’s blog and Instagram for delicious recipes and meal-prep ideas!

Link to Karly’s blog: https://goodmorningfoods.blog

Instagram (@goodmorningfoods): https://www.instagram.com/goodmorningfoods/