the office is open!

so today . . . diandra and i went to staples for office supplies.

we love office supplies, but really haven't had much need for them until now. but now, we have an office, and it needed supplies. so we made a list and off we went . . .

we walked in the door and diandra said, "should we get a basket or a cart?"

our first big decision--basket or cart? the real question was how much stuff are we going to walk out of here with? before i could answer her, she said, "i think we need a cart!"

normally when i go shopping with a list, i focus on finding the items i came for and getting them into my cart and out the door in the shortest possible time. but we were at staples. that was not going to be the way it went down. we were going to go up and down every aisle, just in case we saw something we "needed" that wasn't on the list.

and it didn't take long. right away we found markers in a myriad of colors. and they had purple! so into the cart they went.next we saw these cool boxes. we stood there for about 10 minutes trying to think of something that we could use them for. i mean, they were called 'really useful boxes' so you would think that we should get several. but in the end we decided that as cool as they were, we really didn't need them. i guess they weren't as useful as you might think. it made us sad, but we left without them.

we weren't sad for long though, because just a short distance down the first aisle, diandra found bins full of different kinds of paper clips. and the best part was that it cost $5.99 for however many you could fit into a container. we stood there a looong time while diandra picked out the purple, turquoise and brown clips and then arranged and rearranged them until the container was packed tight!
as the "business manager" i was starting to get a little worried. we had only gone down one aisle and we already had several things in our cart--and none of them were on our list! so we started having this conversation . . .

diandra: "oh, look at this! isn't it cool?"
me: "yes it is."
diandra: "and look! it comes in purple!"
me: "yes, but what would we use it for?"
diandra: "well, i don't know, but look how cool it is. i'll bet we could find a use for it."
me: "yes, but do we really need it? today?"
(you will notice that i was saying yes a lot, but really i meant no.)
and usually she would say, "i suppose not." and put it down. although there were a couple of times . . .

we had this conversation more than once . . .

but we did get file folders and hanging folders and cds and cd labels and a cool "design it yourself" notebook and padded mailing envelopes and a mileage book and two staplers and dividers, not to mention the markers and paper clips. oh, and of course, post it notes.

finally i said, "maybe we should add up how much all this is going to cost. that way we can make better choices. because clearly we cannot just buy everything that we see that would be cool to have!--staples is way too full of cool office supplies!!" so we stopped, and diandra started adding stuff up in her head. this is her "don't bother me, i am doing math in my head" face.
we made a few adjustments in our choices and then made our way to the cash register. even while we were standing in line, she was saying, "do you think we need some of these?"
by then i just shook my head . . .

as hard as it may be to believe, we got out of there $30 under budget. clearly i showed my value as a business manager--even though diandra probably thought i was just trying to ruin her fun . . .

but the fun was just beginning!

we got home and started unpackaging the office supplies and putting them away. the post it notes and markers and glue sticks and stapler and the assortment of paper clips went into the desk drawer.
the file folders got labels and were organized into the filing cabinet (notice we got purple!)
and soon diandra was able to sit down at the big desk and get her paperwork organized.
this was a very exciting day for us. our office has been a 'work in progress' for a long time. and it still is . . . we have plans to paint and redecorate a bit, and we need to get some technology installed. but finally we have a space that is usable and dedicated to diandra ann photography.

and just in time too! it is exciting to see how her calendar for 2010 is already filling up. we are going to have to be more organized this year in order to keep track of everything. we decided it would be helpful if we had a weekly calendar where we could post appointments and shoots. we found this dry erase weekly calendar that will be just perfect . . .
. . . if we can just figure out how to hang it on the wall without using those foam sticky things . . .