Coffee shop office

On the days I'm not in Charm City, my office is located just across our living room in the spare bedroom.  I'll definitely give a little tour of that space some other time, but as I sit here in my other home "office" this afternoon I feel inspired to talk about this one first.

Working from home a few days a week definitely provides me with enviable flexibility and certainly balances out the days that I commute to and from Baltimore. However, I have always been a little social butterfly and really thrive in groups, so I knew when I accepted this job that finding a balance between the quiet of my home office and the need for human interaction would be essential to my happiness in it.

A little over two months in, I am definitely still working on that balance (I think that will be ongoing) but one thing that has helped enormously is the adorable coffee shop across the street from our apartment.  It is such a cozy, quirky little place and it is always filled with other people on laptops, hissing espresso machines, an exceedingly random selection of background music and other happy varieties of white noise.  It has been a favorite since we moved in because of its great coffee, delicious baked goods, panini-pressed egg sandwiches and fabulous sangria at happy hour and it has now become my frequent afternoon post on the days I work at home.  Getting out of the apartment to take my regular seat at the bar built into a bookcase always helps me to focus and feel more engaged with the world.  I feel very lucky that it is only a quick commute across the street.  I'm sure I will explore new places as I continue to find my work-from-home rhythm, but I couldn't ask for a better home base.