Write what you are thankful for

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I propose a challenge to you. It is not a challenge of strength or wit, but a challenge of gratitude. With one day of each year singled out for giving thanks, it is easy to focus on what makes you happy. The family surrounding you. The food at the table. The day off of work. And it feels good. It feels great, even. Physically expressing love and gratitude physically makes you feel great, and don’t you want that all year ‘round?

For about two years, I began each day with a list of what I was grateful for. I would spend 15 minutes each morning and log onto my blog and get typing. It started off with 21 things, moved to 49, and some days I’d be in the 60s. Initially, finding even 21 things you are grateful for can be daunting. Some people I’ve discussed this with had difficulty getting seven things on the page. But that’s OK. Shoot for seven things for your first list. Move up from there.

I wrote my gratitude list every day to start my day off in a mindset of love and thankfulness. It turns out that things go better when you start your day on a positive note. It makes writing emails easier, it makes you more mindful of what you say and do, and it makes you happier, which makes you more enjoyable to be around.

It may seem difficult to get started, because you may have concerns like, “What should I be grateful for?” “What if it sounds petty?” “Am I being grateful enough?” The truth is, it’s your list. It’s meant to bring you peace. If you’re grateful for your expensive car and your beautiful home, by all means, put that down. If you’re grateful because there are nursing homes to take care of your ailing grandparents, put that down. If you’re grateful because you had an uneventful (read: no accidents) drive to work, put that down. If you’re grateful for your electricity, toothbrush, couch, shoes, put those down. It doesn’t have to be worldly and grand. It doesn’t have to be unique. It can be the same things each day. It just has to be true to you.

Once you get on a roll, it’s difficult to stop. Sometimes the words can’t come out fast enough to keep up with your brain. If you need some inspiration, start your list with things you’re surrounded by when you write, from the pen in your hand or the computer keyboard beneath your fingers, that allow you to share information. Or think about your meals that you have had or have planned for the day. You are able to purchase that food because of the job you hold, and you can give thanks for your boss, and your coworkers who make your job enjoyable or easier.

The food you eat makes its way to you somehow, whether direct from the farm or through a grocery store where it was likely handled by an employee, the truck driver who brought it to you, the person who harvested the fields for you, then to the sun, rain, dirt, insects, animals, every thing that had a part in the process. Show gratitude for all of those things; because of them, you had food to eat today.

See how my lists got up there into the 60s? I didn’t go this deep every day, but once you get started on one thing, you can see how it continues. Once you are aware of all of the things you are grateful for, you will find more, and more, and more. Your perspective will change on the things you see. Sometimes it can be overwhelming how much gratitude you have that you didn’t even know existed, but it is such a wonderful feeling that you will want to share with others.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I ask that each of you write a gratitude list, if even just as an experiment. What might be fun is to do this at your Thanksgiving dinner with your family. Instead of speaking your gratitude out loud (which can be scary), have everyone write something on a piece of paper, put it in a bowl, and have everyone pick one to read out loud. It breaks the tension of sharing your own gratitude, but opens everyone to sharing theirs.

Wishing you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving, and hoping you may make each day a day of giving thanks.

I was sporting my PCF t-shirt over my dress today when I was asked, “Do you have a prostate?” I said, “No, but I love people who do!” In the spirit of love and awareness, my coworkers Eric and Brandon and I decided to “exchange” shirts with each other to focus on three points: 1) Prostate cancer strikes at all ages. 2) It doesn’t only affect men. 3) These tee shirts are awesome!

On a side note, working with the PCF campaign has helped increase my knowledge of prostate cancer and to make sure the two most important men in my life (my husband and father) are aware and are getting checked regularly. It may not be an easy conversation to have with your doctor or family, but it can save your life!

Me and my awesome coworkers Eric on the left and Brandon on the right sporting our "Join the Fight" shirts

Johnny, Dave and I were driving to a client last week, and after discussing the horrible drivers on the parkway (you know the drill – everyone faster than me is a jerk, everyone slower than me is an idiot), our conversation turned to in-office relationships. No, not the kind that are generally outlawed by HR, but the friendships that have blossomed between the staff. Johnny has been with Grafik for many years, but felt out of the loop on the relationships forming between the younger staff, and was hoping we could fill him in.

Throughout the years, there have been groups of staff who would hang out after work and on the weekends, going out and having a good time. When these group members changed jobs, or started getting married and having children, the dynamic changed, as it would in any friend group. There is currently a pretty large group of junior staff that has started over the last year or so, and Johnny was remarking on how he knew very little of the new “who hangs out with who.” We explained the relationships we were aware of in further detail, and left it at that.

Then Johnny brought it to another level (as he usually does), and asked who we thought had the most interesting personal life outside of work. We thought for a minute, and couldn’t really come up with anyone – partly because Johnny has warped my brain with his colorful stories of growing up in Manhattan, but partly because we don’t know all that much about our coworkers outside of their work persona.

Sure, we all know Judy is an award-winning quilter (seriously, check it out), Johnny is a talented photographer (I even tried to get him to shoot my upcoming wedding), and Gina used to sing in a rock band (no joke, the band opened for Duran Duran), but other than the staff we frequently spend time with, there’s not much we know of our coworkers.

Some of the junior staff out for a night on the town.

Fortunately, our company is pretty small. Take a walk around the office and you will probably see everyone in a matter of minutes. We are friends on Facebook and Twitter. But how often do we really interact with those we work with, and really talk to them? Not about the project that’s due next week, or the staff meeting in a few minutes, but about them — their interests, their family.

Johnny’s comment got me thinking about our coworkers and what they do in their own time. It got me thinking about my own time and how to even start describing to my coworkers what I do outside of the office. Not only is this a matter of personally engaging your coworkers, but also, how open are people to discussing their personal life in an office setting? Some people are all business, and that’s great. Some people form close relationships with their coworkers, and that’s great too. It takes all kinds to run a successful office.

But really, what do people do outside of this office? Who is the weekend warrior, the volunteer, the musician, the gamer? Do we all fit into multiple categories? How do we start narrowing down our interests to share with those with whom we share one-third of our day?

An answer (of sorts) appeared to me yesterday in the form of Hal and a tabloid sheet of paper with 26 random facts about our coworkers. Hal had visited each one of us on Tuesday and asked for something that no one knows about us. I knew where this was headed. The hitch with this sheet? We couldn’t share our answers with anyone.

We were to have this filled out by noon Wednesday and then discuss over lunch. I did my darndest to fill it out, but seriously, some of these things were almost impossible to pin on someone. There were some very unique quirks, some blanket memories and experiences many of us could have, and unless you actually knew this specific fact about a specific person, you were out of luck.

I’m not going to say the highest number of right answers, but suffice it to say there is room for improvement. I do my best to talk to my coworkers as much as possible, but even with that, I failed pretty miserably at this task.

Lesson? Even with many conversations, I may never know that you don’t like condiments or that you once had an imaginary friend. But, it can’t hurt to try to find out those things about your coworkers. To learn about their lives and what makes them who they are. As Hal said yesterday, we hire people, not just resumes, and those people are what make this office as great as it is. So (even if you’re not a Grafik employee) go talk to your coworkers, and learn more about them, if for nothing else than to be able to correctly answer Hal’s next quiz.

Walking down the hall a few weeks ago, I noticed the amazing tie that Hal was wearing. It had three horse faces on it, and, correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s not everyday you see a tie with horses on it. I’m not a horse girl myself, but my fiancé used to work with a horse adoption program, so I now notice anything that has to do with horses.

I said, “Hey Hal, I love your tie!” with that glimmer in my eye that let him know I’d steal it if he fell asleep. He was immediately skeptical of me and said, “This is a vintage Ralph Lauren tie. I bought it in 1987 at the flagship store. You can’t have it.” He then turned on his heel and started to walk away.

At that moment, Jolda (see Memoirs of a Lego Aficionado) popped his head out of his office and said, “1987? That’s the year I turned two!”

“Two?!” Hal exclaimed as he turned back around.

I began to laugh, and simultaneously, Teddi (see Grafik Goes Miami) was walking down the hall and said, “That’s the year I graduated high school!”

I said nothing, because I was only five years old myself, but Teddi and I looked at each other as a genius idea for this very blog post came to our minds. If 1987 had such a diverse range of experiences for just the four of us, what would some other random years contain in the way of memories for the rest of the Grafik team?

Behold, a collection of memories from some of our Grafites, with somewhat randomly chosen dates:

In 1976, Grafik:
• Graduated from kindergarten.
• Met her husband in graduate school.
• Started the first grade.
• Realized we had a Declaration of Independence.
• Graduated from high school, saw the Ramone’s first DC show, met her husband, and turned 18—in that order.
• Took a road trip to Disney World with his parents in their beige Plymouth station wagon (you know, the ones with the seat in the back that faced the car behind you?).

In 1980, Grafik:
• Got married.
• First went to New York.
• First saw Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd on Broadway.
• First kissed a boy.
• Spent three weeks in Morocco.
• Was forced to start wearing a school uniform.
• Waited in line for three hours to see The Empire Strikes Back on opening day in Times Square.

In 1985, Grafik:
• Began his first job as a designer after college.
• Gave birth to a son.
• Was taken by her dad to see her first live concert – Debbie Gibson. Oh yeah, it’s true!
• Got her first driver’s license.
• Was first kissed by a boy.
• Graduated from high school and started college in the fall.
• Went to Disney World for the first time.
• Traveled to London with his family, and felt so cool walking around in his Hard Rock t-shirt.

In 1994, Grafik:
• Bought her first Vogue magazine at the age of eight (ok, her mom bought it for her), and she loved the photos so much she carried it around with her everywhere she went.
• Went whitewater rafting in Costa Rica.
• Opened a nightclub.
• Started middle school.
• Bought his first CD—Ace of Base.
• Bought her first house with her husband.
• Celebrated her daughter’s first birthday.
• Was living in Denver, CO.
• Was working on Capitol Hill.

In 2002, Grafik:
• Started high school.
• Reached her 5th decade. Ugh!
• Studied abroad in Scotland at the Glasgow School of Art.
• Moved to Ohio.
• Climbed a mountain.
• Celebrated New Year’s Eve in Paris.
• Had her fourth open heart surgery.
• Decided it was time for kids.
• Started studying graphic design.
• Got his first sports car.
• Won her first golf trophy.

In 2008, Grafik:
• Lost her memory.
• Applied to graduate school.
• Went to Europe for the first time by herself.
• Lost 20 pounds in six weeks.
• Quit her job.
• Lived in Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the U.S.A.
• Moved to DC.
• Studied abroad in Greece.
• Went camping in the Caribbean.
• Turned down an offer for graduate school.
• Got his first dog with his wife.

And what did you do? Comment away!

I started with Grafik a little over two months ago, and my friends and family have all been asking me what my new office is like. My response is that I love my job, the people are great, but my continued go-to phrase to describe the atmosphere is that I work in a grown-up’s college dorm. Let me explain.

College invokes memories for me of being creatively stimulating, loud in a good way, and fun, with creative people everywhere. Your room’s door was always open, music was always playing, and people were constantly popping in other people’s rooms to chat. There was always something going on when you wanted it, and peace and quiet when you needed it.

Anyone who has visited Grafik’s office will notice there is a lot to take in, both visually and audibly. The first thing you see as you walk in is a huge round sculpture of a G hanging on the wall, compiled of neon, brushed steel, and a lot of layers. There are examples of projects displayed for visitors to explore. Venturing to the east ‘wing’ there is a bright red wall covered in six letters that spell Grafik. They are much like the inhabitants of the office itself–from many different origins but working well together.

Top: Red Grafik wall in east wing. Bottom: "G" sculpture in Grafik entry.

The floor is colored with large color blocks of navy and grey intersected with stripes of red. The walls are covered in awards. Perforated aluminum undulates across the ceiling, punctured occasionally by the sprinkler system. The kitchen is our common area and doubles as our library, and someone has always brought in something for us to share. The west side of the building looks over the homes in the neighborhood, and the east side looks over the Potomac River and DC.

They will also undoubtedly notice that the triangle-shaped floorplan of the suite allows us to have our own individual offices (except for the Talented Twins who share a corner office). This wonderful attribute is one of the things I’ve found makes Grafik so unique. Each of these offices has a slightly different footprint, but what makes them stand out is that the personality of each of my coworkers has taken over their four (or more) walls, much like it may have in their college dorm room. This suite is not only a workspace, but a second home to a great group of creative people. We spend quite a bit of our time here and we share ourselves passively through how we have decorated our surroundings.

My first week, Judy popped her head in and saw my bare walls. She looked at me and half-jokingly said, “Put something up. It’s how I know people are going to stay.” I told her not to worry. Over the last two months I’ve tweaked the furniture layout (Hal says I only get four tries. Luckily, I still have one left.), covered my walls in some of my photographs and a few drawings done by my friends, and lined the perimeter of the ceiling in twinkle lights. I keep my blinds fully open at all times so I can enjoy the scenery. As soon as you come in, you know Danielle lives here. But go next door in either direction and you’ll get a completely different feel, even though we’re all in the same ‘office.’

Left: Danielle's office. Right: Johnny's stadium chairs and dinosaur photograph.

Johnny keeps his blinds drawn and his lamps on, and has wooden stadium chairs from his wife’s parent’s high school that he personally refinished sitting under a tiled dinosaur photo he took with his Holga. Photos of his children and wife are on his bookshelf that also holds some great vintage items like an antiseptic sterilzer and a Brownie Starflex camera.

Kelsey’s office is sparsely decorated but is one where I can get lost in the details of what she has chosen to showcase. Her windowsill houses beautiful items like a metal four-blade table fan, a vintage camera and a bird sculpture made from a large stone and metal soldered around it. The wall above her desk has creative art pieces tacked to it like a letterpress calendar and brightly colored woodblock printed posters.

Left: Images of Kelsey's office. Right: Images of Brad's office.

Brad’s office sports a Buzz Lightyear neon wall clock and a lounge chair, and I reluctantly must mention his Penn State flag behind his desk (I’m an Illinois grad). He constantly has a fan running even in the dead of winter.

Richard’s office is “del Diablo” complete with a hanging/flying papier mâché devil, devil ducks, devil photographs, and a fun photo of a man named Richard with devil horns on his forehead. A sign on the door suggests you say “H_PPY B__THD_Y” to him in November.

Left: Richard's door. Right: Hal's papasan and Richard's hanging devil.

Hal has an inviting papasan chair (which can be dangerous after a long day), examples of work he’s done for his clients up on the walls, and is always playing classical music, save for the occasional eccentric artist – Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield (has anyone seen the Exorcist?) on Halloween or a little Herb Alpert to liven the mood.

Speaking of music – I mentioned there is an audible clue that you’re in the Grafik office. Because we each have our own space, we each also have the opportunity to create our atmosphere with our choice of music. Walking down the hall is like walking through a dorm room in the early 2000s, or the ‘90s, ‘80s, ‘70s (you know, when students actually kept their doors open and interacted with each other). You hear many styles of music permeating the hallway from Beethoven to Portishead, to Dave Matthews and Justin Bieber (yes, I’m serious). Co-workers pop in to interact with others, and in turn are continuously traveling through the microcosms that create Grafik.

Though these attributes feel dorm-like to me (freedom of expression, constant communication and interaction), our conversations are much less about what’s going on tonight and much more about the latest projects and client meetings. The friendly, familial atmosphere of a common space is alive and comforting (even though I’ve been out of school for almost seven years). We have all come together by choice and hold each other (and ourselves) to a high standard, but we have fun doing it. I feel blessed to work in an office where my personal creativity is not only accepted but is encouraged, and I can’t wait to see how else I can express myself through my office decorations over the years.