Office Love

I work in one of the coolest offices in Providence. I know it. The management has approved an Associate Recognition Day on June 26th. My committee struggled to come up with ideas for where we could go, but I suggested Six Flags New England, in Springfield Massachusetts, which is less than 2 hours from our office. We didn't think for a minute that it would be approved, since we also included a Greyhound charter bus and meal vouchers for a total cost of about $3200. And that figure doesn't even include the day's wages for 43 employees who would all have the day off. It was APPROVED!

I can't even believe it. My idea! On top of it all, I've been put in charge of contracting the bus, ordering park tickets and meal vouchers, communicating the news and the details to all of the employees, and organizing a fun team building exercise for the day. I've never had a project this enormous or this important. People are thrilled. As they should be. Hopefully this will help them realize that we work for a fabulous company. For real!

And to put our awesomeness into perspective, I'm including pictures from the office. I walked around today and took photos of all of the things that I love about the decor, the atmosphere, and the philosophy. Let's start with my desk. We're allowed to decorate our work spaces as we see fit. Within reason, of course.


Love that multi-color, beaded pen holder! I've had it since junior high, so that's about half my life. It never fails to add color and character to my desk, wherever I've worked. And you see my lovely little cast iron teapot. Obsessed! And yes, that IS a Star Wars pen that you see in the black holder. The picture was taken about a half hour after Scott proposed on Block Island. We're standing on the porch of the Manisses Hotel, where we stayed that weekend.


Here's my computer (and the spreadsheet I worked on all day today for the Finance department - eck). You'll see that I have my teas, my Isabel pic, and my orange from the kitchen. They order fruit from Peapod every week so that we have healthy snack options while we're at work. Crazy awesome, right?


Here are my books, which I literally just keep there to make me happy. And my Office daily calendar which makes me laugh every morning when I change the date.


My desk drawer. I keep my lip gloss, eye drops, and hand sanitizer from Bath & Body Works in here. The essentials. And an old award from two years ago that reads "Mamy Thanks". It's become a department joke because spelling/grammar mistakes are ridiculous when they're on company awards. =)


My teacup from home, my purple pen, and my me and Scott's iPod. Yep - they don't mind if we listen to music all day, as long as our work gets done. Badass.


The office is right off of the highway. I-95, to be exact. Lovely view. Not really - but it's good to be able to see when traffic is getting heavy. So we know whether to leave soon or to wait it out.


Our owner/president/CEO's collection of signed posters. Mamma Mia came to the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC). This is signed by the cast. Also the cast of Brotherhood signed this other poster. Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy of the Harry Potter movies) is one of the main characters. When they're in Prov filming, Isaacs trains across the street at our gym. Oh yeah, we have a gym. =) Aaaaan yep - that last one is signed by the six cast members of Friends. Super-badassness.


The buffet where many impromptu management meetings take place. That's because it's right in front of our cappuchino machine, which is stocked with coffee beans from Italy. Ooooh yeah.


Modern wall sculpture accentuating our love of all things coffee.


There she is in all of her automated glory. Ain't she gorgeous?


Our entryway is wide open, with natual lighting from the skylight overhead. The decor is very industrial-looking, and the walls are covered with past company advertisements. Frankly, Scarlet, *company name* does give a damn...


Some fun sculptures atop our filing cabinets. And a nice view of the unfinished ceiling, painted sky blue. This looks lovely, but really gets noisy when it rains. So loud, in fact, that we need to ask people on the phone to speak up. Kinda annoying. But cool-looking! =) Also note the lack of fluorescent lighting, which we all appreciate.


Now we'll take a peek at the seating area in the CEO's office. Love the colors in here. And the artwork. And the jerseys. I didn't take too many pics in here, since I'm pretty sure he had only stepped out to get a cappuchino in the kitchen. So I had to be quick! =)


I did take the time to snap a shot of his amazing, salt water aquarium. Isn't it gorgeous? Filled, of course, with similar fishies that are in Pixar's Finding Nemo.


I love the small details that you can find everywhere in here. These flowers are on a cute little table in one of our conference rooms. This room is used most often for our HR department meetings, since it's the smallest (and nicest!) one.


We all know I love a bookcase. And this computer screen is enormous. They use it for company-wide webinar meetings, since we have locations from Calais, Maine to Salt Lake City, Utah.


And I love this bar, these hanging lights, and this crystal bowl (which is actually an engraved award).

Thanks for taking the tour! The office was decorated by the CEO's mother. She has a great creative eye. You should see his house! It's right on the water in Jamestown RI, with an insane view of the Newport Bridge. But no photos of that one! If I ever get any, I'll be sure to post 'em if I can get permission. =)

I'm still working on my frames - getting them taped and papered off for spray painting. Also, I'm trying to paint some more of my planters for Kimba's Garden Party coming soon! =)