Owl of the Month Club.

i've been at my current job for 3.5 years, but i've done next to nothing to personalize my workspace. other than a photo of me & Matt from our Vienna trip, there's not much decor on display. i've got a cubicle with fabric walls to which things can be pinned, and they are mostly covered with boring 8.5 x 11 white sheets of paper chronicling things like colleagues' phone extensions, procedures, and days the office is closed. (i work at a Jewish agency so we get major Jewish holidays off. they change year to year so you never know what day they will fall on... everyone crosses their fingers for weekdays!)

i needed a calendar that showed all the months at a glance, so i opened Microsoft Publisher and printed off the most basic 2011 calendar they offer. behold, the majesty:

suddenly, i just couldn't bear being surrounded by one more 8.5 x 11 piece of white paper. after looking around on the internet for something that had a little more life to it, i came across this nifty site. it's a website devoted to all things owl, and they rounded up 30 artists to create little pieces of owl art, from which you can create your own FREE calendar. you get to choose which pieces you want, what month they represent, and it all downloads as a three page PDF. i cut out each month and stapled them together, garland-style, as evidenced by this awesome photo from my archaic cellphone:

cute, right? luckily, they decided to offer a 2012 calendar as well. i just finished choosing my new owl pictures and am getting ready to craft it up in this cubicle. i was thinking about cutting the calendars off my 2011 garland and keeping it up for even more decoration. but i'm worried people would think i am REALLY into owls and all i would get for Merry Mitzvah (Jewish agency version of Secret Santa) is owl stuff. and you know how that goes- you feel obligated to put the owl stuff up, which only furthers the misconception. and then you're the Owl Girl.

anyway, if you're looking for a free calendar to liven up your office/cube/kitchen/craft room, this is a great option. here are some of the pieces i chose for 2012: