Oh for a Standing Desk!

I did it! She's mine, and she's a beauty. After a couple of years of reading articles on how sitting is making us slower, fatter, and more likely to die early, I now have my very own standing desk: no sitting required. Which is pretty cool.

For a while I tried to figure out how to make my current desk a standing one. Raise it somehow? It was ridiculously heavy, and that was never going to look good. Add something on top of it, just a small platform to allow me to stand sometimes or not, depending on my mood? Again, kind of hard to figure out.

That left pretty much only one option: a new desk altogether, which pushed the project back a bit. And then I found out that standing desks are ridiculously expensive or incredibly tiny, without any options in between, and that sort of killed the idea of getting a desk from a regular retailer.

See, there are a few difficulties with standing desks. One is that the desk needs to be custom built for you, or adjustable. Everyone can be made to sit at a pretty uniform level (by using the same chairs) but people stand at wildly different heights. Well, making a desk adjustable makes it more expensive. Ditto with a custom built desk.

So I decided to circumvent the whole problem, and see what I could come up with on my own. I looked into a couple of IKEA hacks, but they looked a bit shoddy and had no storage space, which I desperately need. So I decided to combine the top of this desk with some elfa parts I got at the container store that just so happened to be the perfect height for a standing desk for me.

Score!

And then Evan put it all together, bless his heart, and working at my computer changed drastically. I find I'm much less inclined to surf the day away on the internet (much less - even when I'm not supposed to be working I'll do something else instead of whiling the time away at my computer), and I'm more productive as well.

Also, standing is hard work! After a couple of hours, you really feel it. I bought a stool as well, since you're not supposed to stand all the time, and I use it to take a short break every once in a while.

Yay for my new standing desk! Now I just need to do something about the wall behind it - it's a mess!

In the Reflections

I often find myself at a loss for what to write on this here blog. Images are not a problem - as I type this there are a good ten posts that have images ready and are just waiting for words to make them complete and postable. 

But what do I say about them? I often find myself with a disconnect, or a problem if priorities: which comes first, the image or the words? Should I write about the photos and perhaps not say what's on my mind at the moment, or should I write a post about a topic and then illustrate it with a photo that has absolutely nothing to do with it? 

Or should I plan ahead, and only show photos and produce posts that can do both for me? It's a bit of an open question these days, and one I've been pondering for a while, one that speaks to the very nature of this blog and what it's here for. 

I blog for a few reasons. For one, to share my work, especially personal work that doesn't have a client to appreciate and use it. Also, and maybe more importantly, to connect with all of you, and to create a place of my own on this her huge internet playground. 

So if you don't hear from me for a while, don't despair, I'm just taking a moment to rethink it all and figure out what I want to say with this blog. 

Shoes on Blue

Lamp

We ignore the beauty around us often. I know, because I do it too. And yet, when I have my camera in my hand, it suddenly becomes visible. The chipped paint on the lamp over there, the reflection in the shop window, the fabulous shade of green shot through with sunlight on the other side of the street.

The world is always beautiful, it's just up to us to see it. And for whatever reason, a camera makes that process so much easier.

Try it out. Take your camera out, see what you can find.

1912 Vicente

A few images from a recent shoot.

While it would have been easier to photograph, certainly, had it been a little more overcast outside, I love the sun-washed character of these images. Here in San Francisco it's rare to watch the light from the window travel around the room, it's so soft and diffuse. A house with real sun coming in the windows: priceless!

I especially loved this little breakfast nook. Who wants to have a cup of coffee and read the paper in the morning with me here? Sounds fantastic.

Quiet on the inside, unassuming on the outside, but cozy. I think that's the right word for it.

Church Window - Wordless Weekend

February Habits, Goals, Resolutions, and Thoughts

You can always count on me to have a leaf photo waiting to be blogged. :-)

Welcome to February! Man, January seemed both incredibly short and then also at the same time quite long. There were certainly quite a few times where I found myself thinking, "I can't believe January's almost over!" and also, "I can't believe it's still January!" I think it's some kind of side effect of making resolutions and having so many hopes and bright dreams for the new year. I'm not sure January really lived up to my expectations, but then again, I'm not sure exactly what my expectations were. And maybe then, that's the problem.

I made resolutions, as I do every year (and which I always enjoy doing, regardless of my success rate), but most of them weren't January specific. Two were, getting a standing desk (which I did!) and finishing overhauling my website (which I didn't). The rest are kind of nebulous, year-long affairs. Which is fine, but doesn't give an immediate sense of accomplishment.

So for February, I'm considering tracking some habits instead. I've been inspired by a few other bloggers who have been doing this as well, with pretty good success. The habits I want to track are nothing earth-shattering; they focus on exercise, eating well, going to sleep at a good time, cleaning/decluttering, being grateful, and connecting with other people. These are all things I am focusing on already, none of them are terrible problem areas. I'm not trying to completely change my life, but I am trying to make it generally easier, healthier, and smoother. I'd love to have the house in a constantly clean state rather than periodically having to spend half a day whipping it into shape (usually before people come over, I won't lie!).

So I borrowed a resolutions chart from one of my favorite bloggers, Crazy Aunt Purl, and I'm just going to see how I do. Other inspiration came from the ShuBox, Pancakes and French Fries, Zen Habits (also loved this recent post), and of course Gretchen Rubin at the Happiness Project. Please click the links here! All of them go to posts I found really helpful, with the exception of the Happiness Project where there wasn't any particular inspirational post this month.

One of the major reasons I'm choosing to focus on these things this month is that I really want them to become habits. That is, things I do without thinking about them, without tracking them, without stressing or feeling worried or guilty. I want them to be the background of my life, so that I can focus on other things: my business, my life, travel, fun, without worrying that everything else will slide by the wayside. I'll be honest, I was already kind of hoping that this would have happened in January, but it didn't. So for February we'll see if tracking makes any kind of difference, and that will determine what happens in March!

Ok, long post, I know, but I'd still love to hear your thoughts if you managed to make it all the way to the bottom. Have you tried tracking habits? How'd you do?

Which do you prefer?

I couldn't decide whether this one worked better in color or in black and white. What do you think?