I was scanning Twitter the other day (but really, when am I not?) when someone shared a link to What Does Your Desk Look Like: A Sneak Peek at Your Favorite Bloggers’ Desks. I admit to being a bit of a voyeur, so I dove right in.

I know it’s en vogue to embrace your faults. From bad mom to terrible cook to fashion disaster; everyone seems to have a gimmick related to being a nonconformist. But everyone’s desk was so messy that my OCD started to make me twitch. I mean, most of the time my desk looks like this, so you can clearly see my cause for concern:

Sometimes I do get wild and crazy and sloppy and my desk looks like this for about 15 minutes: (Note the day planner and bottled water if you’re struggling with the differences.)

Is complete disarray a hallmark of the blogging community? I can’t be the only blogger with a tidy workplace, can I? Is compulsive tidiness my gimmicky fault to embrace? What does your desk look like? I’ll resist the urge to tidy. Promise.

PS–My mom is probably so proud of me right now. I mean, she is the female Danny Tanner.

PPS–I just organized a Spring Cleaning day at work. You really do turn into your mother.

Passion. We’re told we need it. To go out and find it. To discover your passion is to discover what will bring you happiness and joy and make it rain puppy dogs and lollipops. Hell, students are now encouraged to take a “gap year” between high school and college to find theirs (I’m sure you can guess that I think this is complete and utter bullshit. Go to school. Get a job.)

But what about when passion isn’t enough? Just because you’re passionate about something doesn’t mean you’re especially good at it. Bravo to those that put their whole selves into drawing or calligraphy or macrame because they believe it’s their calling, I truly believe there’s benefit to enjoying and finding value in whatever you’re doing, but there comes a time when you just have to come to terms with being awful.

Case in point? My photography.

I love taking photography classes; listening to the professor explain concepts, critiquing and being critiqued, discovering great photos and the meaning behind them. I adore fiddling with my camera (Maybe my problem is that I’m more of a techy than a photographer?) and making the connection between this setting and that and how my photos change.

But most the of the time, my photos look like these.

Oh, yeah. Dirt.

Shadows. Or something.

Perspective. And a dirty river.

Oh look, my car. (Is it just me, or are these getting progressively worse?)

A half-dead, blurry tree. Wonder of nature, right there.

I call this one “origami in a dark room with no flash.”

Yeah. I’m bad. And it’s an expensive hobby to be passionate about and bad at. Are you terrible at anything you love to do? Do you fake it until you make it or do you laugh and do it anyway?

birdAve Etsy Shop

Moving to Texas wasn’t my choice.

I mean. I had a choice but I agreed because it was where my ex-husband wanted to be. Things weren’t good between us as far back as three years ago and I thought moving to where he wanted to be would make him happier and help our marriage. It didn’t matter to me where we lived as long as things got better.

I’ve since learned that there was not a direct correlation between his geographic location and our happiness. And now I feel like I’m stuck. When I’m really angry, I feel like I was tricked into moving and now I’m stuck.

I love my job. I’ve made some good friends. Austin is lovely. My good hair days outnumber my bad.

But I still feel stuck.

(PS to my sister. This is not a cry for help.)

I pink puffy heart Valentine’s Day, but I don’t have a Valentine this year. That’s just a small technicality, in my opinion.I mean, have you ever really gotten a good gift from a Valentine? I haven’t.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to celebrate regardless and put together a Valentine Swap! Sounds like something you want to be a part of, right?

Shit bitch, you is fine.

Here are the guidelines. They are a work in progress, so let me know what you think and I’ll send the final guidelines to all participants with their match on February 1st.

• Fill out the Valentine Swap form by January 30th.
• Receive your match and final guidelines on February 1st.
• Buy your Valentine $15 worth of treats and goodies – this can be candy, knick knacks, trinkets; anything you’d think they’d enjoy.
• Mail your goodies by February 7th to arrive by the big day. Be sure to get a tracking number, just in case.
• When you receive your package, hold out until Valentine’s day to open and then Tweet or blog about what you received
• On Valentine’s Day reveal yourself to your match!
• Enjoy your treats.

Please only sign up if you intend to follow-through. We don’t want to leave anyone without a Valentine! It would be great if there were at least a dozen participants, but we’ll make it work no matter what.

Hugs and kisses!

Sometimes, I think about quitting my job, buying a teeny tiny trailer, and selling homemade rice crispie treats.

I make really good rice crispie treats.

Still crazy, I know. The name needs some work, too.What kind of crazy shit do you think about doing?