I really like experimenting with my Morning routine. I’m always tweaking it but that’s part of the fun. I love hearing or reading about other people’s routines for ideas. My morning routine varies. Sometimes I’m on a journaling and meditation kick. Or I’m running in the morning and making my green smoothies. My latest thing has been oil-pulling (sounds crazy but I kind of love it). One thing that  always gets worked in somewhere is reading the news. While I wish every morning could start with a lovely cup of coffee and an actual newspaper on my Mid-City porch, reality calls for a more convenient fix. Two of my favorite solutions at the moment are the Yahoo News Digest app and The Skimm newsletter.

Yahoo News Digest (for iPhone and Android). This has become my go-to in the morning and one of the last things in the evening. Here’s why:

• It summarizes from multiple news sources and gives you all of the news references at the end if you want to go ahead and read the more in-depth article.
• It has great design – the app is beautiful and easy to use (screenshots below).
• Digests are delivered twice a day to your phone – once in the morning and once in the evening. There is something to be said for having those bookends vs. the 24 hour news cycle that is sometimes really helpful but often highly annoying and repetitive.
• Key pieces of information are broken down – the summary is followed by relevant images, videos, maps (I know generally where the Gaza strip is, but where exactly is it on the map?), a Twitter feed, and key people (so you don’t have to Wikipedia them on your own).

The Skimm: This newsletter is sent out every morning and is the news summary that sounds like it was written by your goofy sorority sister who really likes puns. It gives you the big stories while being entertaining and also giving you some random facts. (For example, do you know the difference between the UK and Great Britain? The Skimm gives you a little refresher when you don’t.)

Yahoo News Digest and The Skimm will make sure you know the basic facts on the big stories happening globally and in the US. Nothing substitutes for a deep dive, but this gives you a place to start!

Are there any news apps or newsletters that you use daily? We’d love to hear about them!

PS – For local news here in New Orleans, I rely on The New Orleans Advocate’s morning emails and The Mid-City Messenger for my neighborhood news.