work

With Just a little Pixie Dust

| Viciously Sweet

I don’t fit into my office. This is not a new secret. Like, I don’t fit in so bad that it’s nearly comical. It’s almost like I’m a mystical being stuck in a land of protocol and unyeilding emails. Actually that is almost exactly what it’s like, it’s hard to be a Lauren in a 9-5 kind of world.

And the best part of all of it… is that my boss hasn’t the slightest idea. And the worst part is… I think he’s such a nice boss, that I kind of never want him to know how hard it is to work with some of the other people in our tiny office space.

I’ve been tinking about it a lot lately. Have you ever thought that maybe Tinkerbell was really just tired of being treated poorly by the lost boys? And maybe she was tired of always being put in cages and treated like a weird sparkly decoration? I do. She was totally over it because she know she can do more than that.

Now several times last year I thought of quitting my job, without any back up plan. And not for reasons people usually do… No one ever has a great boss, and bad coworkers. No one has ever said that! And no one ever says when they are in a bad work environment that they love the work they create. Which… I do. I like the clients I deal with. I love the idea of something I draw being built and occupied by people who are learning, and working and changing the world with their existences and thoughts and dreams. Right now at this moment, that is what architecture means to me.

Things I don’t like about work is being harassed by coworkers, being asked to quit to make certain people feel better about themselves (several times, actually) and feeling totally unappreciated for all the actual effort I put into creating a product that we are proud to put our names on.

I have actually tried to think through these issues a lot in the last few days. How can you get past these kinds of work problems?

The first one… well I’ve tried a few things. Including ignoring, trying to talk it through, and finally giving up. And then I stumbled upon these little words from every cool chick’s homegirl, Tina Fey:

“So, my unsolicited advice to women in the workplace is this. When faced with sexism, or ageism, or lookism, or even really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question: “Is this person in between me and what I want to do?” If the answer is no, ignore it and move on. Your energy is better used doing your work and outpacing people that way. Then, when you’re in charge, don’t hire the people who were jerky to you.” -Tina Fey, Bossypants

I have taken these words to heart, and my days have felt so much lighter and brighter than they used to. I can do my work really well, and I will be in charge of a firm someday. And maybe I’m also better about this type of situation due to the fact I may (or may not) have concealed and color coordinated weapons on me pretty much at all times.

Basically this is me getting ready for work. Except I’m more partial to flats. Image Courtesy of: Photobucket & the Weinstein Company

And secondly, I’m not going to disappear to ease other people consciences. You are an adult, I am an adult, we make our own decisions. And I’m sticking around to get stuff done, and you can’t be rid of me so easily. Also you have no right to banish a good fairy, unless your name is on the business, which it is not.

No one ever to told Glinda to get the Heck out of Oz. She was just doing her thing and being sparkly. And that is how I want to be. Especially with that hat!  Image Courtesy of: Photobucket & Warner Bros.

And well the other one…. Hmm, there isn’t much I can do about this. All bosses everywhere do this in some shape of form… I mean if you keep pulling off impossible deadlines for them, they think that you can do so much more. Sometimes to fulfill my boss’s requests I find myself alone in the office in the dark of the night clicking and clacking away at the computer just to meet the deadline. And then after it’s all printed, he will say, no lets go back to the other thing we were at a few days ago. And then I will smile and know I tried. This actually happens a lot, and it used to make me really mad. But now I think he requests crazy things because he believes I can make magic. So now instead of getting upset when my work is shelved… when I complete the impossible tasks he asks of me, I just feel a little bit magical.

And well all of the analogies in this post came from my truly desperate grasps at happiness. Online Quizzes. Yes, when I feel a little blue I take internet quizzes that tell me things like I should paint my walls blue… or eat a margherita pizza. So this time when I was feeling a little down I took an internet quiz about Fairy tales and even the internet agreed:

You Are the Fairy! You are charming, cheerful, and a little bit magical. You make other people’s lives better. You are a bit eccentric at times, but you truly care about people in your own way. You are hyper and restless. It drives you crazy to sit still, and you are usually the first to leave any event. You are unpredictable and flighty. No one can guess what you’ll be up to next … or where you’ll be!  Image Courtesy of: Blogthings

And then I applied that knowledge to my actual existence, and found that it’s not really too far off. Eccentric, cheerful, probably coated in glitter. Maybe being a fairy isn’t so bad, as long as someone thinks you’re magical.

♥Lauren

p.s. Sorry Amber who reads this blog, but you know how it is ;)

Let’s get lost in Happiness

| Viciously Sweet

So I have had a killer workday ahead of me. In fact yesterday, I worked 9 hours on something I couldn’t even explain to anyone if I tried. I just recolored blocks in a computer program over and over again. So quite candidly I can say… those blocks, are really really colored. And everything else well… it didn’t get done.

And I have had a headache since last week that is made up of stress and allergies… because it’s been so windy where I live. I actually feel the north wind is telling me I should run away like, Juliette Binoche in Chocolat and start my own store of drinks and doodles. Where that weird French guy can judge how I would rather live a happy life than the life of a nun, and Johnny Depp can be my sexy repairman.  But that is for later, and deadlines are for now.

Amber came back into the office yesterday and was super optimistic. She made me remember all the things I learned in the last few weeks by watching movies with Paul Rudd in them. Wanderlust, My Idiot Brother, the Baxter. All of these movies made my last few weeks. All of them have helped me realize what I really need.

Happiness.

The only thing is I have to do is go find what that is to me right now. And since I’m currently at work I can try to think about it. I hope you can do it too… wherever you are at:

Right now I’m listening to music and trying to think about what would make me happy… not feeling trapped in this office would be nice.

♥Lauren

2013 is going to be Awesome

| Viciously Sweet

So I’m back at work.

I’m sorta reeling from the sad knowledge that I have to sit for 8 hours a day again, and for my inability to wear yoga clothes to work… as I spent several days in the last week sporting some of the most bad-ass pajamas you can imagine. Penguins with popcorn, cats with little hats, neon green and gray yoga pants that would make David Lee Roth a little jealous. I’m all class in the jammy jamz department! I’m also realizing that I will not have any time out of my work confines until I vacation at the end of the year.

AT THE END OF THE YEAR.

That sounds so far away now.

Anyways… back to me in my cubicle. Everyone is talking about stuff as people in offices do. Apparently we’re moving locations in March. And actually, I’m getting a window… Imagine that, a window for little Ole’ Me! Back to the windowless rectangle I work in… some professional is doing something, and of course there is always someone trying to gossip. Is it sad that I’m used to this as my existence?

Well I’m just going to get past all of this, this year. And I will get through it with wit, smiles and far far less tears than last year. This is not the first time I will admit to get through my days I rely extensively on my imagination, and I promise myself this year that when things get ugly around me I’m going to take to my imagination and make something good instead of getting upset. And the silver lining in all of this is when I imagine things maybe I can make somebody have a giggle or two at my doodles. With that I present today’s doodles:

Cubicle thought time with Lauren is brought to you by Lauren’s crazy brain!

And then maybe someone else will ponder the current actions of Stevie Nicks. Which will start a whirlwind Stevie Nicks revolution and then people will be dressing like her… the mall will be covered in sparkly black shrouds, and then everyone will hate and simultaneously love Lindsey Buckingham, and we will all have sweet sweet necklaces:

I have been thinking about Stevie Nick’s a lot lately. Anyone else want to see Fleetwood Mac this summer? Anyone else really love the song “Rhiannon” or “Go Your Own Way?” They are personal favorites.

And then maybe someone will be driving and will smile at a stranger (and totally make their day) because their mind is being regaled by the thought of a sheep in Alpaca wooly sweaters:

This sheep is so handsome… He’s practically the George Clooney of the sheep community.

And everyone who reads this blog, thank you. I hope your new year is incredibly wonderful… and full of great and unusual thoughts and experiences. If you have some you need to share. Just drop them here. I am a recycling center for weird things.

Also all this weird I just recorded here reminds me of a truly fabulous quote:

Image Courtesy of: If you wish it- Tumblr And Lewis “Why is a Raven like a writing desk?” Carroll

♥Lauren

Isabel Stare-A-thon 2012: Exponential THON

| Viciously Sweet

Today is the final day of staring, glaring and gazing at the one and only Isabel.

Since I have not been as up to date this year on my staring logs. I have decided the best way to share how much staring at Isabel means to our office. Cue the romantic music.

The guys in the office are really into the whole event:

It’s been really hard to get work done in the office because people cannot literally look away from the live Isabel feed on the computer. The professional loves that the stare-a-thon can be integrated into his cubicle time:

And then there is Jonathon… our new coworker:

Jonathon preparing to stare

Has not only caught the staring bug:

But he also made this years staring slogan:

Yes, I work with some really weird dudes. And well, they could be doing worse things than staring. So as long as the star-a-thon is on we’re all safe… wait, it’s over.

Happy Stare-a-thon Isabel!

2012 Isabel Stare-a-thon, out.

♥Lauren

The Isle of Misfit Toys has found it’s Queen

| Viciously Sweet

This time of year is a really fabulous time. You get to see the world be a little cheerier.

But it is also a time of plentiful get together’s, parties, meet and greets… and the ever exclusive couples parties (that I attend in my own special unicorn fashion). These parties make me excited to get to see my friends, and pray that they are wearing a Christmas sweater that is enough to make Bill Cosby enviable. I always do something at these events (like fall into a planter, forget everyone’s name) and this helps me remember that I am an awkward goof.

Now being a goof is really great at certain times…. I can lighten up a family shindig. I can can tell an entertaining tale, I can have my friends in stitches (of laughter, I’m not violent). But not every party is just friends, and some parties are mandatory and full of people who rather don’t like you.

This is when I want to climb into my bedazzled cocoon, because no matter what I do these people will talk down to me. The will say cruel and unnecessary comments about my style, lifestyle, weight, and anything that strikes them at the moment. This is the very thing I dread each year about the holiday season.

But this year is different. This year, I really don’t care.

I would be a heart shaped peg if I was a peg… this is an amazing truth!

And the reason I don’t care is that…. I like me. And if you feel the same way about the holiday season… remember there is only ONE you for a reason (unless you are a multiple) and you being around is an awesome thing. So what if the people you have to spend time with don’t think you are that fantastic… somewhere out there other people do. I know I sound like a Hallmark Card, but if you are reading this you are an AWESOME person. Simply, because you are. So go around this holiday season being yourself around not so nice coworkers, or weird uncles, or mean mothers in line to buy toys for their children. So what if they don’t like you… Just like being yourself!
I’m so awkward!
Be wonderful to everyone, especially if they don’t deserve it.

♥Lauren

Isabel Stare-a-thon 2012: Opening Ceremonies

| Viciously Sweet

It’s that time of year again to dust of your periscopes and get into the groove of staring at Californian sweetheart Isabel! Now as you can remember the Isabel Stare-A-thon is the official start to the holiday season. And it is where we take time to show Isabel how much we care to stare at her face.

Now this stare-a-thon has an exciting new development. Isabel has since the last stare-a-thon got engaged… to Dave the man who wants to make every day his own personal stare-a-thon.

And now to announce the theme of this year’s stare-a-thon I must give credit of this brain child to my new giggling accomplice/coworker Jonathon who is excited about his first Stare-a-thon:

So everyone… get ready to get some Isabel Staring Happening!

♥Lauren

Happy Hour

| Viciously Sweet

So I’m not the biggest drinker. But I am a fan of happy hour. And not just because that is when drinks are most affordable, but because of the name. Happy Hour. I think more hours should be dedicated to  happy, and not just because I like to have a drink or two… but because we need an hour where the world is not driving us mad and an hour to pretend like we have never heard of cell phones or the internet. You know, time to just be.

Also if I had a happy hour it would have alcohol and desserts. Because I don’t know if there are two things that could make people happier.

 

True story: I’m not the biggest drinker. And  I never quite know what to drink… and well I know alcohol is not the tastiest thing… so I’m not that picky. And a lot of the time when I order drinks I sound like this:

I’m going to get my happy hour on now.

♥Lauren

The Goal

| Viciously Sweet

I have very odd selected daily goals, and the weirder they are the joy of completing them is greater.

At work I have many professional goals… you know deadlines and the sort… but I always keep some spare time for a little giggly goal.

And this goal is not really a secret:

Today I read her a exterior canvas catalog in a spicy Marilyn Monroe kind of accent. We both laughed so hard we had to stop… and somehow I ended up shoe-less.

Talk about that you talk-talkers.

♥Lauren

The Oh Oh Overload

| Viciously Sweet

You know this time of the year is a magical time. The leaves turn, the nights get longer, people are a little nicer (to your face)… and the Lauren is always stuck in the office missing these previously mentioned things.

I have been so busy these last few weeks that I actually have dreaded taking the days off I had previously planned. This Friday I plan on not going to work and I plan to celebrate my birthday, so I need to figure out how to make a whole new day somewhere in between that can be filled with work. I think if anyone can do it… it could be me. I would like to call it Blergsday. I am in need of a Blergsday miracle.

I have work up to my eyeballs, no one wants to Wang Chung with me, and some people at my work are even gossiping about me (for real). This basically means, I’m too awesome for them to handle. And their lives are really really boring. Trying to deal with all of this while simultaneously trying to figure out if I found the lid to my pot.. is really stressful!

Any who I also have to admit that I actually had to do something even more terrifying to make sure I don’t neglect my blog, my birthday,  my doodle time, the holiday I created about my friend Isabel, and my other responsibilities. I made a calendar with a drawing matrix and scheduled events. I this I just made making doodles a  professional commitment… how is this happening to me? How is it you can get so busy you have to schedule in fun? Is this real life?

 

 

♥Lauren
Also shout out to my brother and sister-in-law. I haven’t heard from either of you for what feels like forever. I hope your vacation was awesome. And I ♥ you all.