My campus nest is for workdays, not overnights. This morning, Figgy and Dan suggested a few places to work out of the home. I've had trouble focusing in my office, and I work more productively in a shared space. I had already considered these and ruled them out.
- Upper Montclair Starbucks. I know too many people coming in and out. Not a private office. Plus, memories of completing a very stressful writer's test on deadline there, at night. Just under the wire.
- Java Love on Bellevue Avenue. It has many fans, but the tabletops are small and I wouldn't feel comfortable staying too long. Can't spread out with my accoutrements: Kate Spade pink Filofax, Lilly Pulitzer laptop case, Stashers bag.
- Cedar Bean's Coffee in Cedar Grove. Too far to drive and the menu is not really my cup of coffee.
- Clifton Public Library, Allwood branch. Dan loves working there and is there right now, but IDK, it just doesn't grab me.
- Montclair Public Libraries. The one on Bellevue has charm and history, but not too much workspace, and it feels like just me and middle schoolers in the afternoon. I should be working on a geography report. (Do they still even teach geography?) The main branch, like Clifton, just doesn't grab me as a workspace. But I am grateful to have two fine public libraries in town with a trove of books, and they co-host important festivals, speakers and events.
- Mercado on Valley Road. Good food but laptop limit windows and also, most people are there to talk and socialize, not work.
Figgy reminded me about the Montclair State University Library, so here I am. It was a hell of a steep hill to walk on campus but I did it. So that's an added benefit, about 40 min. round-trip walk for slow walker me. I got a latte at the new college Starbucks next-door and then sat outside at the tables to make work calls/set up interviews and eat my packed lunch. I didn't want to offend coffee lovers with the smell of lox. Look at my bowls, I love them:
I shopped Food52.com for 20 percent off spring refresh items for our home using code SPRUCEDUP but I think the code expired now. I saved a lot but most of all, found great style in the shop (spring wreath fresh from a farm in California, half-moon-shaped woven doormat, streamlined dish rack designed in Japan and garden gloves). I loved the set of small nesting bowls on 52 but that aqua (Sea Glass Swirl) one pictured on their site was not included in the set, and is so pretty. So I went to the source, Golden Rabbit Enamelware, and ordered this set of nesting bowls in Modern Monet. Dishwasher-safe. It helps that I grilled zucchini on the stove last night, so it was ready to go, along with rice and the fish.
I also went on my Zoom support group meeting at 7 a.m.! to start my day right. So I am feeling better, inch by inch. More productive, more purpose.
Step by step, dream by dream, goal by goal, one day at a time.
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I am constantly in search of a “third place”, a place that feels like home but is out and around people. In the few months after I retired and. before the pandemic shutdown, I walked with my laptop to a stylish coffee shop a mile away and settled in to try to read and write. (I was volunteering for a local environmental org, and commenting to local gov on local planning issues.). I felt I was channeling you, with my earphones and laptop!
ReplyDeleteNow I go about once a week to a new coffee shop about a mile away in the other direction, that middle nephew actually has a small business interest in. He’s there almost every evening because he’s good friends with the owners and staff (or he was before he had to return to long-commute office last month). I go mostly for breakfast, but I don’t settle in because it’s tiny and the chairs aren’t that comfortable. But I love that I feel a connection to it. I have some days with no appointments and I’m glad to stay home alone and play lighthouse keeper, speaking to no-one while going about my tasks. But other days I enjoy the buzz of seeing and hearing people!
Our public library is like yours, all kids with homework and socializing they try to keep quiet.
I hope this new place continues to work for you!
—Nan
Hi Nan. haha you're killin me with: I have some days with no appointments and I’m glad to stay home alone and play lighthouse keeper.
ReplyDeleteI've been to many lighthouses and have mused about the lighthouse keepers, and read some good books about them, too.
I love that analogy.
It just does help to get out. I've also been applying for a few jobs that have presented themselves. Fate and destiny will step in.
Love Alice
Yes, I think Nan has captured all our imaginations with her keeper of the lighthouse image! I do love your bowls and also your methodical sorting as to the best workspace. I love my home office - recently remodeled with standing desk and fresh windows and paint and a new carpet - and miss it when I drive to my office in Virginia. Fingers crossed your new nest works out!
ReplyDeleteLiz