My co-workers are starting off Friday by sharing something interesting on their desks in a thread on an internal P2. Inspired by that thread, I thought I’d share my workspace as it appears today.

I work at a fully-distributed company, so I work from home every day (I could also go to a co-working space, but I like my home office!), and the items on my desk change around frequently.

First, here’s the full desk:

I’ll work my way left-to-right.

On the left, you can see my Happy Light. My office now is very sunny, but I used to have a much darker office, with lots of wintertime. We’ve since moved, so until winter comes (I’ve heard it’s coming) I probably don’t need it, but it still makes me cheerful. My desktop wallpaper is by Hugo Baeta, and you can find it here.

Let’s zoom in a little bit:

These you can only just see behind my laptop. I need to hang them up, but haven’t yet. The larger print is a Pop Chart Lab literary genre map. The smaller is “4 Seasons” and was a wedding gift from my mentor in grad school.

Moving over a bit:

Holding up my laptop is a Roost – we got these in our holiday package one year, and they are ~lasered~ with the company name:

Directly in front of my computer is a weekly schedule sticky note. I keep my 1:1 schedule on it, along with any standing video chats I have scheduled, so it’s the same week-to-week. If something changes, I get out a new one and start over.

Moving left, I have a Be Optimistic badge. Behind that I have a photo of my babies. On my Thunderbolt foot I have two tiles I picked up in Lisbon on a meetup, one for each of my children (Eleanor and Henry). The Thunderbolt itself is sitting on a very sophisticated stand, comprising Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Moby Dick. Propped in front of that is a note my husband left me one day and the ticket to the first Sabres game he took me to (vs Washington Capitals, March 2007). In front of that is the watch I got on my honeymoon (I need to replace the battery). Finally in that little grouping I have a photo we had taken on the North Beach of Oahu, Hawaii. Sort of in the foreground is a mug of nothing, but it was coffee, on a coaster my friend Beckett made for me.

Moving over to the last grouping on the desk:

This is definitely the most cluttered area – perhaps because I’m right-handed so everything ends up here.

I have a small catchall and an inbox from the same Etsy store that doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Here’s a zoom-in on the catchall:

Let’s take everything out:

Top-to-bottom: C.O. Bigelow rose salve. You can get it at Bath and Body. Below that on either side of the catchall, I have a flash drive (I think it’s my husband’s, actually). On the other side, some green electrical tape for when Apple cords inevitably start to fray. Other side, a cube of post-its that I don’t actually use. Below that are two sets of bucky magnets that are a major hazard for kids – both of these were supposed to be at Bob and my respective offices. To the left of that I have a couple hair ties and a pin that says “will poop your likeness 5c” (an amazing deal). Below that are two polaroids from my youth (Guy Fawkes day and corn-eating-day). On the other side again, below the electrical tape, is a WordPress logo pin and hand cream. Under that are more magnets that probably shouldn’t be around children, and below that is my ticket to a FC Barcelona football match and sundry other trip tokens. Floating to the right are a stain remover pen and an archival marker.

Moving to the right from the catchall I have … well, more catchalls basically:

At the top is a white house tissue box. I don’t have tissues in it at the moment, however. The pens and pencils are in a Holiday Valley Beer & Wine Festival glass, and I have a cord, a fountain pen, and a sharpie in a tea cup. In front of that is a bowl my mom got me from Starbucks for Easter one year (isn’t the bunny so cute?) I keep lots of child safe things in there like matches and paperclips. And floating in there somewhere is a euro that is perfect for unscrewing the battery cap on the magic trackpad.

The final things visible in the view of this side of my desk are my WordPress over-ear headphones:

And my inbox (which doesn’t bear looking more closely at). It houses upcoming bills, my signed papers to accept a job with Automattic, some yarn, some pens – that sort of thing. The final thing on my desk is a water bottle. I rotate between using a plastic bottle (I eventually recycle these, though, because I’m not crazy about the plastic), a metal water bottle, and a glass of water. Depending on the day, you may see all three.

Behind my desk I have some more photos, which I nudged together to get a photo of:

My babies at a few weeks old, my co-workers about a year ago in Park City, Utah, and my babies from this past year.

That’s it! That’s what I look at as I help my fellow WordPress.com users and co-workers each day.