My friend Jen likes to come into my office. I’d like to think it’s because I have cool stuff, and  there are pictures of our adventures on the walls, but that’s not the case. She likes my room, she says, because its like a living thing (and I know I am misquoting her as this conversation is usually had after too many drinks). I usually look at her quizzically, to which she replies-“its always changing. I’ll come here one day and it looks like a tornado hit it, and then I’ll come back and its all picked up, like nothing happened”.
I smile, ’cause it’s true.
My office is a living, breathing, growing beast. It’s the start of my personal photography studio, which hasn’t completely taken over my house. Its my fabric studio/sewing area. Its my yarn storing area for knitting projects. It’s the bead shop, where I make little necklaces. It’s my scrap booking station, where I can make a handmade note for a neighbor who watched my dog, or an employee as a thank you for their hard work. Its my music studio where I pluck at my old guitar and pretend I know what I am doing. It’s also my library, where the bookshelves are brimming over with books. Lastly, it’s actually my office-where I meet with employees and attend project and other meetings and listen to interventions to ensure my participants are getting a fair deal. It’s a big ol box of me-ness.

Right now, that big ol box is a big ol mess, but there’s still order in the chaos.  Ask me where my cashmere yarn is, the soft purple with white threads here and there, I can tell you that it is in the closet, second shelf down in the green bin. What about the recipe for the soba salad I make? That’s in the Nigella Lawson cookbook, the white one on the top shelf in the first bookshelf.
Much like I know myself, I know my room, but I can tell there’s been a lot going on in here-just like in my life. Work has been busy transitioning into my new role, spending time working with block watch stuff, working with the Park organization (go 12th and Trenton), getting healthy again. But I can still see the order in the chaos even there (thank god for calendars!)  That being said, its time for some more order, and less chaos. Even though I am sick, this weekend will be spent thinning out the crafts, finishing up at least one sewing project and hanging up my photography. A little more order just may let me make a little more chaos, and let the whole process start again 🙂

“Chaos in the world brings uneasiness, but it also allows the opportunity for creativity and growth.” Tom Barrett