What's your color memory and office chair suggestions?

Can you do this??

45

On my first try I got 45. I think that's probably considered good, but being I was an Visual Communication Design art major (a.k.a. Graphic Design), I'm kinda disappointed in myself! See what you can do and tell me what you got because I'm really curious!

So I have a question. I'm assuming that a lot of desk-job women are coming by here. My question is, what kind of chair do you use at your desk?

My chiropractor thinks that some of my back issues stem from the desk chair I use and the fact that I sit at my desk for hours and hours. On weekends I sometimes spend 10 hours in my chair. I guess I never thought about how graphic design (which I get to use now with my digital photography job) would one day mean that I would stare hours on end at a computer screen and probably develop bad posture.

The chiro said it's very important about the placement of my computer screen. He said that it should be directly in front of me and not at the side and that I shouldn't be looking down at the screen. He said if I need to put books under it to lift it up, to do that. So I've done all his suggestions. I do, however, think the biggest culprit in my back troubles is my chair, which I got in November (it was my grandfather's).

My back pain didn't begin until this year and I've never had this sort of back pain before. (I broke my tailbone playing softball in high school and had major lower back spasms, but that was a pain which stemmed from a known injury.) We also have a new mattress which I question, too, but I want to concentrate on the chair first since it's the least expensive to replace!

I would love to get an ergonomical chair, especially an Aeron one (seen to the left). But holy cow, are they expensive (-- over a thousand dollars expensive)! Are they worth that? If I had the money I would buy one in a heartbeat. My chiropractor suggested it, but he also said there are a lot of spin-offs of it now too, which are much much cheaper.

What do you suggest for me?

My husband and I are going to start looking. But as we all know, the best people to give you shopping advice are those who have had positive experiences with the product! My mom may be able to help me since she works at a bank. Mom . . . what do you bank people recommend? I really need something with good lower and upper back support, something that can be adjusted up and down and forwards and backwards.

I thought about one of these to the right because they encourage sitting up straight, but I've had two people say "ehh, I don't think you'd be happy with that." So it's been vetoed. And you must remember, I live 2-1/2 hours from Chicago so I don't go there all that often. I live near Decatur (where I was born) so office chair shopping is pretty limited for me. I'll probably have to shop in an Office Max or Staples. So keep that in mind. I'd rather not order online if I can help it!

Whatcha think? I need some major help. My back will thank you over and over. I loooove my chiro but man, he is EXPENSIVE!!! I'd rather love something more that costs me less!

Welcome to my office space.

My office is a big part of me and my home. Since I work from home, my children have even grown very accustomed to it. They even know now (finally!) when I am working in there, that I'm "at work", which is nice. And even though they still can come in anytime, it's my only real special place in my entire house that I can call my own. I actually feel invited to go in there, especially now. And so I thought I would invite you in to it also!

Just a couple weeks my husband got done painting my office. I've been having a lot of back troubles lately, so I for the first time ever, I didn't paint a room in my house. (I direly LOVE to paint walls!) Sweet darling hubby did all the painting and he worked on it each night after the kids went to bed. (He's so good.) It went from bland icky probably-never-actually-painted stark dirty white to a crisp oh-so-warm and fresh coat of RED. I love red if you didn't already figure that out. :c)

You also may or may not have figured out that I am a photographer and I work out of my home. I've been working out of my home for over 5 years now. It definitely beats my last (very odd) job as a professional taste tester. While I actually LOVED doing taste testing and found that job exciting because there are not many people in this world that can do that it -- taste anything and EVERYTHING no matter what it is and be able to pinpoint on my palette what attributes the food has on a scale and then spit it out (yes, spit it out in front of people!) -- I still would much rather shoot pictures. It's definitely more rewarding and tad bit more fun :c)

I chose to work from my home because of my kids. When I started my job, I didn't have kids, but I was praying that I would. We had lots of troubles conceiving, but I still felt like God would not have put me in that position if He wasn't going to give me a child. And shortly after that He did. And it's worked out beautifully. Of course there are many a days when I wish I worked outside the house, but most days I'm very happy and content where I am.

I mainly shoot weddings, which is I have all those Martha Stewart Weddings, but I've found myself shooting tons of babies and kids lately, and I'm having troubles deciding which I like shooting better. I'm afraid in the long run, those small cuties will win out, but we'll see. I'm putting stricter requirements on the weddings I shoot which makes it easier for me and much more fun. Who would have thought I would be able to pick my weddings? It's definitely a blessing.


So here it is . . . pieces of my office. It's definitely nothing fancy, but it totally works for me, and in between my actual photography needs are pieces of me. I love having things around me that make me happy. Everything is right there and I actually, for the first time ever (!), feel organized. I could tell you where everything is. It all has it's place, and that's something I didn't have until we moved to this home 8 months ago. Thanks to IKEA, Pottery Barn and reading my Real Simple magazines, I'm turning into an organized Val that I never knew existed. Some of my friends like Chel, Leann, Alexis, Natalie, Kristin, Heather . . . FINE, all my friends . . . will all be amazed by this because it's these people who are already organized or never thought it was possible for me to be!

These Expedit bookcases from IKEA have been a Godsend. I love them. We even have two in our family room. I'd like to have more but I'm not sure where we'd put them. I know how I am when I look at other people's pictures . . . I study them and try to figure out what everything is. So I just went ahead and listed it all for you so you don't have to strain your eyes. (But if you are straining, I suggest clicking on the picture and making it larger.)

Then there is my closet which Neil and I converted into more storage with shelves. It's worked out remarkably well. Back in the back of it where you can't see, I store old client files and negatives, personal photos, and all my big equipment (lights, light stands, reflectors, backdrop stands, light boxes, etc.). So I can hide all the not-so-pretty things out of sight and that's nice because it's all still in one room and not all throughout the house like it use to be at our old home.



And then there is my bulletin board which kind of speaks for itself.


And finally, my daily work space. One of the places I post my entries to Purple Valley from and *the* place I do all my photo editing from. Notice the 3 external hard drives. You can't have enough hard drive storage, which is something I have talked about in the past among some of my digital photography posts. (Speaking of, I hope to post another really useful and valuable post on choosing the right camera --- tune in later this week!!)


Grandma Libby, one of my biggest role models, would be so so so proud of me, I just know it.

There you have it, my work space. Sorry I rambled so much, but if you plan to visit me more, that's one thing I tend to do ;c) But for some reason people just keep comin' back. And I appreciate it. :c)