I had a great day meeting with my favorite people at work today. Our office is not fully opened to staff, only 25% allowed to go to office, but with the decline of cases, we are encouraged to go more. Unfortunately most of the staff prefer to stay at home, some due to convenience (to avoid long commute), others are just lazy (let’s be honest). It took me a lot of convincing to schedule a team meeting in office as I think it makes a huge difference to communicate in person from time to time, to strengthen team spirit, trust, and to allow for innovation and spontaneous brain storming sessions. For me, it’s 5 min walk, for them it’s 1-2 hrs one way so I understand it needs a period of transition. I hope to do this regularly with them. It takes seeing them to realize how much I miss them.
I also had a lunch meeting with a client. We chatted for 3 hrs!!! I am grateful to have met great counterparts during my stay, those that will stay as friend even if I move to another country. She also gave me some Christmas gifts, which was unexpected. i felt under prepared. 😉
What surprised me is how much it takes me to prepare to leave the house in the morning. Finding the right outfit, some makeup, getting all what I need to bring to office, took me 45 min, 30 min before the pandemic! 😆
It was quite tiring meeting in person for hours. When I finished, I didn’t want to talk for the rest of the day. hehhe.
I really missed my family. When I saw them 5pm, it felt I went to a long trip, and the girls felt the same.
Overall, it was a much needed social day with non-family. 🙂
Our New Journey 
I was just telling my dentist the other day, of all people, at an appointment, that I haven’t set foot inside the hospital I work for (my office) since February of 2020!!! It’s crazy! I just haven’t actually had any need to go in person, so I haven’t! I’m not staying away out of fear of covid at all there, just simply because everything has moved to remote, and the hospital is like a 30 minute drive away…so I have no desire to go if I don’t have. I actually sometimes wish that I had a separate office space here in my town, like 2 minutes from home, where I could go to work sometimes. I love working from home, but occasionally if I’m feeling distractable or just sort of out of it, I like the idea of going to a different space where I could just be all in on WORK. But I don’t really have any option like that. I have thought about maybe moving to a different space in my house occasionally, I think like you did in Sofia’s room for a while. I really like my home office, but because I also use it for other personal admin/ household work, blogging, etc., sometimes I think it would be nice to have another space for “deep work” sessions or something. I’m glad you got to see your coworkers- I do definitely see benefits to some in person meetings! We just haven’t had to do that at my job, yet.
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I’m juggling all the same feelings and trying to embrace the flexibility when I have it. I’d say 95% of my work is happening from home now (where pre-COVID it was about 80%); so it hasn’t been a huge shift for me. I don’t have any need to go to an office (my work is designed to be done from home), but I do enjoy having an on-site meeting or lunching with a client or colleague sometimes. I definitely have a fluid schedule of work + home admin + more work (often doing things in the evening hours), so it can be hard to find balance.
On another note – that top looks SO GREAT ON YOU! I love the colour, the fit, and the neckline detail. It’s beautiful (so all the time picking out your outfit was definitely worth it).
Also, I can completely relate to having someone bring a gift and feeling surprised/embarrassed I didn’t do the same. It doesn’t happen often, but definitely leaves me with an unsettled feeling. I’m trying to roll with it and know that the same thing happens in reverse (where I’ll gift someone something unexpectedly). I accept graciously (and, where appropriate, get a gift for that person down the road)!
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