My New Office

Hello Readers, I know that I still have to finish posting pictures and information about our trip to Korea this summer and also want to post something about my birthday next week and turning 40 (even though I refer to it as my 15th Annual 25th Birthday), but first I want to talk about my new office at Purdue this year (well not new, but new for me). I should be grading and doing other things, but you know. . .

This is my side that I share with a colleague/friend even though we come in on different days and don't really see each other. It is definitely smaller than my previous office even though the space itself is bigger, but I am trying to make the most of it and we have a window. I started behind the desk by putting up artwork, postcards that I have gotten from family/friends over the years, ones I have bought and collected and different pictures to try to make it feel more colorful and brighter.

I have also brought in different plants and will continue to add a couple more I think because you can never have too many plants. I have a kalanchoe with cheerful yellow flowers on my desk, a snake plant on the floor to hopefully create like a living wall, succulents on the shelf in front of two fake mini-trees that I bought at Target last year (see on the left), and a pothos plant against the wall under the painting.

This is a picture of what people will see when I am on Zoom calls from my office and thinks it looks pretty good and fits who I am . This is also a picture of me wearing a pair of new glasses that I got in Korea. (Even though my eyesight isn't awful or my eyes are bad, they are a little weak and glasses do help). The second picture is of a new standing desk that the program was able to order for me from Amazon that I think is not too big and nice looking. The old one that I had was big, bulky, and took up the whole desk; was ugly and when you raised it came out so far you were against the wall. This one goes straight up and still allows me to have some "real estate" on my desk to use.

There are still some things I want to add to make it feel more comfortable and cozy like some more plants and soft materials. I have joked that I am going to get a giant beaded curtain like the 1970s and hang it from the wall in front of my desk to like make me feel like I have my own room. (I think it would be totally rad!) I would like to knit another blanket for myself to put in here, possibly get a small pillow, you know for when I get tired. I know some people think of their office as a professional space and want it to be clean and bare. That isn't me, I want it to feel like an extension of myself and how I want to feel in my own space and the feelings that I want to give off. For me that is many things, I want to show warmth through color and plants that also shows I care about the enviornment and understand the importance of plants. I want to give off a sense of coziness with my books, like a personal library on my shelf and not just textbooks, to the blanket on the chair and later with the soft light from my lamps. Hopefully when students or colleagues come in, they will be able to feel these things too and ultimately feel comfortable and will want to come back and visit! And finally, because I want it to be an office/space where I will want to go to work or just to spend time!