What do people do all day?

When I was little, this was my favorite book:

I'm not little anymore, but I'm still really interested in what people do all day, and what their workspaces look like. Since I'm interested in yours, I guess I should show you mine!

I work for a really great non-profit called Leadership Scholars. We provide leadership training for inner-city kids in Cincinnati. We're a small 3-person operation, so I get a fancy title and lots of responsibilities. And work with some really fun kids.

Seriously - you know your job is going to be good when this sign is hanging over your desk on your first day:

I'm a social worker, and I coordinate our kids weekly trainings, oversee workshops, develop lesson plans for our curriculum and handle a lot of logistics. I love logistics. I am so good at logistics. 

So here's where the magic happens:

I've had an office in my previous two jobs, but I have to say, I love having a cube. There's something comforting about a small space with bulletin boards for walls. I miss the privacy when talking on the phone, but I like my cube.

My file system. Things that I need to deal with are "in," things that just need to get filed are obviously put in the "file" tray and anything I need to read when I have more time gets stuck in the "read" bin.

This is the wall I face when I'm on my computer, so it houses information I reference a lot, like our calendar of events, contact information for our schools and the list of projects my intern is working on this week. The pictures are of our kids - how cute is that?? They're my inspiration pictures for when I'm having a bad day and can't remember why I want to do this kind of work...

To the left is mainly reference information... a calendar (which I love and am someday going to make an incredible quilt from), how to access my voicemail (because I never check it), an envelope for receipts. More pictures of some of the kids that make me smile. The files are the ones I use most often... everything else lives in a filing cabinet.

I don't always have fresh flowers in my office, but I do today since it's my first day of grad school! Thanks Mom and Dad! The mug with my pens in it was a gift from one of my favorite professors in college. I love the saying (Risk more than others think is safe, care more than others think is wise, dream more than others think is practical, expect more than others think is possible) and I love that it makes me think of her.

So that's where I spend a ridiculously large amount of my time each week... show me what you do all day!!