I decided to start doing my “6 Things” series recently because I love how everything in a house has a story behind it. I started with 6 Things Stories: Our Den and now we are moving on to My Office.
While my office is filled with things that have all sorts of memories attached to them… I narrowed it down to just 6.
Thing 1: Cotton Monster
This is my very own Cotton Monster, handmade by a Baltimore-based fiber artist. Many years ago, I was at a work event that had a raffle and the Cotton Monster was one of the prizes. I wanted it SO BAD… and did not win it. However, one of the accounting partners at the firm I worked at DID win it by accident. And not even knowing how much I coveted it, walked by me on the way out of the event, handed it to me and said “enjoy” before disappearing off into the night.
My adorable little monster is soft and ridiculous and always makes me smile! He also appears in the background of many of my #ootd pictures on Instagram, back when I used to leave the house regularly for work.
Thing 2: Voices of the Year Award
This is my Voices of the Year award (aka a VOTY), which is basically like the blogger version of the Emmy’s or the Tony’s. Back in 2016, I submitted one of my posts to be reviewed through a juried program with a minimum of three rounds of judging. Out of the thousands of submissions for the 2016 VOTY awards, fewer than 5% of them made it through to become an Honoree. The piece of writing that I was honored for was really special to me, because it is about some of the simple pleasures of being a mom. You can read it here: I Want You.
Thing 3: My Watercolor Painting
I’ve always been an artsy-fartsy-crafty kind of person. I love to create everything from tie-dyed shirts to embroidered pictures. I’ve tried pretty much every craft out there, including stained glass and hand throwing pottery on a wheel. I LOVE to create. However, I can’t draw worth a crap. At the beginning of the pandemic, I bought myself a watercolor set and an acrylics set and just allowed myself to play. This is one of the paintings I made and I love it.
Thing 4: Jack’s Note
Over the years, Jack has always been the kid who has made me little notes and pictures. One day a few years ago, he found a piece of wrapping paper and wrote this note on the back of it: To Mom. I love you so much. I like your hard work.” He painstakingly sounded out each word and carefully wrote each letter. Sure, some of the words are spelled wrong and he was a little loose with his capitalization and punctuation. But it is absolute perfection to my momma-heart.
Being a full time working mom is hard — I want to be awesome at my job and I want to be awesome at being a mom. I added Jack’s note to a photo frame with some pretty backing paper and it hangs right over my desk.
Thing 5: My Relaxation Corner
Each morning before I turn on my laptop for yet another day of pandemic inspired teleworking, I have a little ritual. I light a nice smelling candle and settle in with a cup of coffee, before attacking the emails that came in since I had logged off. If it’s a super stressful day, or I’m on a call where I have to keep my cool… you’ll probably find me with one of the little shells or rocks in my hand. Just smoothing it like a worry-stone. My friend sent me the llama-corn planter, but the plant that came in it is long gone. I recently bought a couple new ones… and they’re still alive. So yay!
Thing 6: All the Craft Organization
As I previously mentioned, I love being creative. This bookshelf is basically my home version of Michael’s. Do you want some embroidery floss to use for cross-stitching? Yup, got it. How about some super soft yarn to knit a blanket? Yup. Some jewelry making supplies? Some fabric paints? A metal stamping set? Glitter? Yup. Yup, Yup, and Hell Yup! Not only do I have a little bit of everything, it’s all organized and labeled so I can find whatever I need. So whenever inspiration strikes, I’m ready to create!