Marvelous Monday #4 :: A lot less college dorm and a lot more peaceful workspace

I'm not sure how I haven't talked about this before on my blog, but for those of you that don't know me, there's a big part of my life that I've yet to share.

I live in a boys dorm.

Yup. That's the truth. I have 100 neighbors and they are all boys. Stinky, loud, video-game playing college boys. Perhaps I should explain a little....

My husband is in grad school at Covenant Theological Seminary and he's just about to finish up his M.Div, which is a super-long master's program. It's very intensive and there was just no way he was going to be able to finish school in a reasonable amount of time AND work a full-time regular job. So, when the opportunity was presented to us to become the resident director at Missouri Baptist University, we jumped all over it. Ok, that's a lie. We said, "Um yeah, no way." But after thinking about it and praying about it, it all of a sudden became very appealing to us to live in a boys dorm. So three years ago, Jon and I left our cool apartment in West County and moved into a men's dormitory, built circa 1970. Jon oversees all aspects of resident life here at MBU and is directly in charge of the boys dorm.

When I tell people that I live in a college boys dorm, I often get a look of sympathy or a comment about how crazy we are, but really, we love it here! We get a chance to really get to know the residents and form genuine relationships with them and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

One of the perks of living here is our apartment. It may be in a boys dorm, but we are kind of set back from the rest of the rooms, and we have so much space inside! (And FYI, it does not smell like boys in here) We repainted everything when we moved in... everything except our office. And, um, it's a mess. I'm ashamed, but here are some photos taken from my iPhone:

My workspace. Yes, that's my desk with my keyboard and wacom tablet all crowded together. I have to store papers and other "stuff" on top of my printer because there just isn't any place else to put it.


Jon's workspace. Please note the insane amount of books in these photos. that's what seminary does to a family.


the mountain of clothes that belong to my very well-dressed husband


Yup, the room where I create art looks like 4 boys should live there. Well, not anymore. After our trip to IKEA in Chicago, we spent a whole day fixing the place up and now it doesn't even look like the same room!



My workspace


We painted the walls a cool green color called "Sagey." When I was buying the paint at the store, the guy mixed it for me and yelled out "Saggy. Who has the saggy paint?" I laughed and said, "Um, I think it's pronounced SAGEY... like SAGE." He just looked at me as if to say "yeah, right, lady. I know how to read." and in a very passive aggressive tone he said, "Ok here's your ... SAGEY paint." And I think he rolled his eyes a little...


Jon's workspace (at 1:45 am). Isn't he just the cutest :)


mountain of clothes = hidden


check out this cool light I got from IKEA. I love it!


These photos were taken within about twenty four hours of each other. We have slept very very little and painted and organized very very much. So while my new office is making me feel kinda marvelous, 3 hours of sleep is making me feel just a bit miserable. Must time for Teavana...