Thursday 8 May 2014

Signs of Spring

Spring is in the air! I'm finally seeing signs of spring. I'm happy that I get to enjoy all of the signs now that I'm working remotely. Today is day four of my amazing new job. It's been a great experience already. The training has been interesting and challenging and I've learned so much already! I feel like my brain is working for the first time since I wrote my final paper last June. I'm a learning junkie so it's so exciting to get to use and appreciate my brain again.

I've been complaining about the weather for MONTHS. It was a long, dreary winter. I've always been a hot weather girl; give me thirty degree weather and humidity any day! Now that the weather has warmed up and the sun is starting to show it's face I wanted to post a few photos of spring around our place. There are all of two spring flowers in bloom and a few buds finally coming. I'm hoping that in the next few weeks there will be a floral explosion of tulips, hyacinths and crocuses!

A few buds are finally coming out!

My lone daffodil 


Rhubarb patch coming in!

I planted over 100 tulip bulbs in the fall!

The only tulip bloom!



Porch pansies
A few adorable pictures I took this morning of Harley having a ball in the backyard. She's just so cute!





On a completely unrelated side note; do you remember my post Propagating Plants in Water? I've updated the post with my newly planted English Ivy. Check back on the post to see how well my Ivy flourished after being grown on my window ledge.

Thursday 1 May 2014

Creating a Successful and Productive Home Office




I am very excited to be starting a new position Monday! I’ve been looking for a new job for a while now and to my delight I’ve landed my dream position. In my new role I will be working remotely for the first time ever. I’ve always been intrigued by work-from-home situations and I’m ecstatic that I can spend more time with Harley. Yes, I was a University student for five consecutive years and “worked from home” on essays and assignments but being a student is so different from being an employee. I will have set hours, deadlines and while I’ll give up the flexibility of being able to binge-watch Downton Abbey mid-day I'll gain a little thing called getting paid! I cannot wait to begin this new adventure.  

I've set up my office in one of the bedrooms on the second storey of our house. This room is also my closet and tends to get a little messy because of the sheer amount of clothing and accessories I own and use on a daily basis. Conqeuring the closet organization will be my first step here. My other concerns about the room are that: there isn’t enough natural and artificial light (we have no ceiling lights upstairs), there is too much stuff in the room and that it’s not organized to a tee.  I can change all of these things however I only have four days before I begin work and we’re away for the weekend so I need to start now.  I will be required to Skype often and need to make sure that the space behind me is visually appealing and organized at all times.

So how is my office currently set up? I have a filing cabinet next to my desk which my scanner/printer/fax machine sits on top of. I love having the magnetic surface beside me as I work and I have magnetic note pads and a super cute magnetic pencil & post-it note holder stuck to it for easy access. I use an antique dining room table as a desk because I love to spread out my work. Having a table instead of a desk with drawers meant that I had no room for storage, so last spring I painted a hideous old half of a TV hutch we had been given and put gorgeous emerald glass knobs on it and voila chic storage! It turned out fabulously if I do say so myself. Inside the hutch are all of my supplies. I consider myself a bit of an office supply expert so I’ll give you the run-down of what I think are the most important office essentials:

  • Notepads
  • Post-It Notes (and lots of them!)
  • Pens (find a kind you like and get a bunch of them)
  • Paper Clips (colourful are my favourite)
  • Binder Clips (again, I like the fun colourful kind)
  • Stapler
  • Staple Remover (surprisingly, they do come in handy)
  • Tape Dispenser (I prefer the solid kind because otherwise my tape always goes missing)
  • Basket for electronics/chargers (keep them all in one place)
  • Paper (blank, ruled, colourful)
  • Printer Ink (always have extra on hand)

In a digital world I am still a sucker for the good old fashioned office supplies. There will always be a time for paper and a pen in my books. I’m such a visual learner that making hand written notes will always been a part of my work ethic.
Now for my office want list:

  • an area rug
  • a pretty and slightly girly corkboard/organization & inspiration board
  • a beautiful office chair like this IKEA Gregor chair (below)




One of my best finds of the summer (2013) was a little ornate antique shelf. Originally, I had envisioned it as a spice rack. When I got it home it didn't fit under my cupboards. Next, I thought it could go in my bathroom but it ended up being too big and bulky for the counter. So inevitably, it found a home on my desk and I really haven't put it to good use. What would you do with it/put on it? I need advice!


I'm going to leave you with a few of my favourite office spaces from Pinterest:

Pinterest
Things I love about this desk top: the inspiration board, decor that is pretty and chic but not clutter-y, good lightning, array of textures and styles and the use of an alternate style of desk!

Pinterest
This I love about this office: the gold and chevron, obviously, I also love the desk placement, cute little booksehlf and antique chair.

Pinterest
So, I don't love this office's decor. It's too sterile-white for my desk. I DO love that chalkboard organization system though it's EPIC! I am thoroughly impressed. Where would a person get such a thing?

That's all for now... I'll update you with pics soon! :)