Bittersweet

I’ve spent the past couple of weeks packing up my office. It’s a mix of happy and sad at the same time. All of it. My office now moves to our shared dining room and kitchen area, and what has up until now been a combination guest bedroom and home office now becomes our daughter’s nursery.

I’m sifting through expired writing contracts and styleguides for companies I no longer write for, including an old “admin cheat sheet” from DailyCandy and MSN Postbox’s explanation of hybrid media. In place of that pile is now printed copies of birthing plans, parents morning out applications in lieu of daycare, scraps of paper jotted with custom cabinet measurements, and a stack of pendant lighting images.

It is important to me for our daughter to have her own space. A calm, quiet area of the house that is all hers. It is equally important for me to have the same for myself. I still want to feel like my career matters in-between the feedings and diaper changes and the monotony that motherhood brings (coupled with the giggles and wonderment). That said, I also want to be realistic with my clients and myself that my life as I’ve come to recognize it is all about to change. For the better, I’m sure of it, but in the process that means saying goodbye to a lot in order to create space for this new life.

Come next week, you’ll see the first tangible change I’ve created. Danapop is getting a shift in both design aesthetic and editorial focus. I’ll be posting more often in a simplified space and in a way, I hope, that is still as enjoyable for you to read as it is for me to write.

I’m thrilled for the possibility of what is yet to come.