Dana Burland

After 522 days away* I'm back to working in the office again. And honestly, it’s kind of nice! My little 15 minute commute gives me breathing room between Morning Mom™ to UX Professional. I’m actually now wondering how many 8:30am Teams calls I’ve joined over quarantine with my Mom Voice still in full effect. Oof. Being back in the office has been surprisingly nice. I’ve never had an assigned desk, but since returning I’ve had no trouble finding individual tucked away stations to work at. There still aren't a lot of people back, or at least not back at the same time, so I have the distance and distraction-less set up I want right now too. And I have the flexibility and respect I need to return comfortably. I’m in the office most days but finish up my work day back at home. I hope some mix of working from both locations stays my norm. In the last 522 days I’ve felt the most ease and happiness I’ve ever felt in balancing all my roles--mom, wife, homeowner, employee, team ...

    And they're off! Garden 2021 has officially begun.  Snap peas : only 1 of these grew. I tried re-sowing. They just didn't want to take. Carrots: growing these in the orange Home Depot bucket on the left. So far so good! Basil, parsley, rosemary & chives: All in the ground (bottom of the photo). And my perennial chives are up and flowering! Green beans : these are sowed in the brown open dirt line toward the middle left of the photo. I think I'm late in getting these in the ground, but we'll see how they do. Tomatoes: In the middle, in two cages, are my tomatoes. I have a cherry tomato and heirloom tomato variety. This is the first year I have my tomatoes in cages! (That's so embarrassing to type...). Eager to see how they do more tamed. Peppers: To the right of my tomatoes are two pepper plants. One is a bell pepper, one is a smaller sweet pepper which is new to me. Cucumbers: At the back, in *hopefully* enough space for them to sprawl, is a cucumber plant! ...

It’s not quite garden season in West Michigan yet, but things are really starting to pop up over here! You know about the garden fence , which so far seems to be doing its job in keeping any curious critters out. Inside the garden I have a singular snap pea shoot that’s sprouted. What happened to the rest of the row I planted at the same time? They’re nowhere to be found, but I suspect they didn’t get enough water. I think I’ll have luck with my late correction resowing the rest of the row as we’ve had very, very cool weather snap peas like. My chives are up and strong, and the carrots I planted in a 5 gallon bucket have sprouted! I tried these in the ground last year and they did nothing… I suspect because my soil was too dense. Inside I’ve started from seed: Cherry tomatoes Heirloom tomatoes Bell peppers Cucumber Broccoli Watermelon Everyone’s doing great! I just transferred a few seedlings to bigger pots, and the plants seem to be shocked. We’ll see how they grow within the ne...