My Home Away From Home
Four years ago, I changed jobs. It was a scary change, but a really great one. While my last company was a good one filled with great people, it just was not a good fit for me. This current company really feels like a home away from home. As the company has grown, my office has moved around a bit – I am currently in my third location, but have been happily residing at this desk in this office for about two years. I share my office with this awesome woman who is a transcriptionist – she's only here once a week so usually I have this room to myself.
The only thing bad about my office is that my back is to the window, and I have a pretty awesome view of a main street in the city. Unfortunately the way this room is configured, there's no way to adjust that.
This is what I look at every day. I usually have two computers up at all times – I need redundant Internet for work projects. Always have headphones plugged in – either I am listening to Spotify, or I am editing audio recordings. Have a headset for my phone for crisp audio when I need to speak on projects.
The lamp is from my college days – a cheapy $19.99 torchiere from Kmart or Target. It still works great, uses a standard bulb and has three settings. Proof you can get quality at any pricepoint! The chart on the wall is a list of to-dos I have created for my team – we're getting into some pretty quiet weeks before the new year and I keep adding randomness we can do now to be prepared for 2012.
Do you think I have enough beverages? The reusable Starbucks cup was my morning coffee that I drank on the commute. The mug (a super cute gift from my mom two years ago) is for when I don't have coffee from home. I usually spend the rest of the day consuming 2-3 refills of my Camelbak bottle, but because it's been a crazy week, today I treated myself to a Diet Dr. Pepper. And now you know the truth – most of my bracelets and earrings end up on my desk within an hour of arriving at the office. It's hard to wear headphones and type with them; I do put them back on when heading to lunch or a meeting!
It's almost 2012 and I still rely on a Rolodex. I have had this same Rolodex since 2001 and carry it with me from job to job. While I do have an Excel spreadsheet with the same information, I find a Rolodex to be faster and easier.
The picture is of my husband and I in 1994 when I went up to Great Lakes for his Navy boot camp graduation. We were at the Hard Rock Cafe in Chicago, both exhausted but happy. The print on the wall is from Ork Posters – they have these in a variety of colors for different cities all over the world.
Above my desk is this board. Tons of randomness – birthday cards from coworkers, pictures of my family, badges from conferences, etc. The flowers are those decals you can put on windows – I had them up when my old office's desk faced a window – it helped me recognize which office was mine from the street below. The shoes are from my sister – in college she managed a shop near campus that sold them and I acquired quite the collection. My coworker saw my collection and gave me the shoe keychains to the right to keep them company. The blank space on the ledge is because two shoes have fallen behind my desk and I keep forgetting to go back there and retrieve them.
To the right of my desk is a tall bookcase and short file cabinet. I have a second phone in my office for when I need to stream audio for a live web event. A bit more Georgia O'Keeffe, a Picasso print that represents how I sometimes feel on busy days at the office, and a bit more plant life. At my old job, a coworker gave me a small Christmas cactus; I brought it to this job and it's still living. I have broken off some of the long tendrils and put them in a vase to sprout roots – I need to bring in a larger pot and some soil to transplant them!
The frames are Liberty of London for Target – one picture is of me and my husband at Bonnaroo in 2008, one is of the three of us a year ago. Two glass insulators (I have quite a collection of them at home). The second shelf is a dust-covered pile of randomness – training manuals, HR binders, a vase from flowers my husband sent me almost a year ago… should be cleaned up. Maybe I'll do that next week when it's going to be super quite in the office. Maybe I would be able to find a smaller bookcase hiding at the office as only two shelves are really being used!
So now you know where I hang out from at least 9-5 every week day. Where I gulp down Lean Cuisines while completing blog posts on my lunch hour, where I chat with you on Twitter and Facebook. It's a good place to be, surrounded by good people doing good things. My home away from home!
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Best wishes to you. It’s so hard, especially in this economy but there’s a good fit for everyone out there. Thank you so much for stopping by and I agree, hope to meet you soon!
I am in pursuit of that “change” right now and it definitely is a scary one! Hope to see you around at one of the DC blogger events 🙂
Happy Holidays, Ashleigh
http://www.thedaileigh.blogspot.com
Aww Amanda, thank you so much for being a long-time reader, and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas as well!
I try to keep it tidy, I won’t let myself go home at night unless everything is organized. To the left of the phone is a stack of notebooks and invoices and randomness, but I try to keep even that organized. 🙂
Our old neighbor collected glass insulators, too – and he’s way under 70. He’d been collecting them since his teens and had quite the collection lined up on top of the kitchen cabinets.
We have the same phone – I’m still not sure why I have one, I rarely get more than one or two phone calls a week…..
Your office is so neat and tidy, while still being personal – I really need to work on my desk before I leave so it will be nice and clean when I come back from Christmas break.
I have been reading your blog since you had your old blog and was known as Dilly! Yours still is my favorite, and I hope you have a very blessed Christmas with your family. Thank you for sharing your workspace with us, it’s very true to your personality and I really like that DC poster!
I only had two for over a decade – hard to find in the DC area! I now have… probably 30 or so, mostly from eBay or the random dusty find at a flea market or thrift shop.
And thank you SO MUCH Laura – wow six years? That’s utterly awesome and totally making me blush! <3
Thank you Sonia, you guys are making me tear up with your awesome comments! You make blogging worthwhile and fun!
They are something that grows on you, so weird looking at first, then knowing what detail they put into such a utilitarian thing, makes them more lovely!
I was also excited to see the insulators! My best friend growing up’s father worked for New England Telephone in the Boston suburbs and had a MASSIVE collection of these. One year I was lucky enough to receive one!
I’ve been reading your various blogs for almost 6 years now (I came across it after doing a Google search for “Gap jeans”) and have commented a few times before, but I’d like to echo Tish and tell you how much I love reading your blog. I’ve found other fashion/life blogs over the years, but yours has always been my favorite.
I love your workspace; it is so YOU–professional with ultra feminine flair. Incidentally, I have never known anyone else outside of an ex-boyfriend in Michigan that collected those glass insulators! He was fanatic about his collection. I thought they were so weird, until I learned each one’s history, then they kind of grew on me.
I too have been a fan of your blog for a few years now as well and look forward to reading it each day. Thanks for your time and effort!
Thanks Tish for reading all these years! Readers like you are why I blog, and why I will continue to do so. Thank you! 🙂
My “Semi Grandmother” (the wife of my grandfather’s cousin) used to collect them, but she had all the rare ones in pristine condition. We used to visit them in New Hampshire every summer and go yard saleing – she was a picker before the shows came out and could find rare items and antiques. I didn’t mind the chipped and “boring” aqua ones. Once I had my own home I started collecting more, I have them line the railing of my deck, and in my home and office as decoration and paperweights. No one I know (under the age of 70 or who didn’t grow up in New England) knows what they are either.
Wow you’ve been there 4 yrs? I say that because I remember reading about you starting the “new” job. I’ve been following you forever! And still love your blog, I look forward to reading about your life, your recommendations and your wardrobe advice. I know you must put in a lot of time and I would just like to say thanks 🙂
I collect glass insulators too! I’d say 99% of the people who come through my house have no idea what they are or why I have so many.
Fun to see your space!! Those cheapy lamps are great.