New Year, New Adventures

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2014 sweet readers...

After more than a month, I'm ready to dive back into writing and sharing my life with you.  So much has changed since my last post on November 20th.  But where to begin?

The holidays?  Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Ever were wonderful!  We spent it all with friends and family-- eating a lot of food, opening presents, and laughing.  Things were made hectic by my desire to make everyone's Christmas gifts at the last minute-- but, I finished everything and people loved their gifts!

I would post a photo collage of everyone and their gifts, if I had only remembered where I put the camera.. instead, I'll give you this:

Photo Courtesy: Jen Hart

Logan and I playing with a skein of yarn-- which coincidentally I was crocheting into a pair of slippers for my mom.  So there you go, a photo of a present!

Now, to the next item on the agenda!  After more than a month of packing, cleaning, and patching up a wall my darling dog ate-- we are all moved into storage/Grandma's house.

We turned in the keys to our old house on Tuesday.  It was a bittersweet moment... but we're glad to be done with it!

It's been a crazy month-- and let me just say, I LOATHE moving!  Between the toting of heavy boxes, and the scrubbing of walls, ovens, and showers-- it's all terrible.

Not terrible enough to keep me from doing it again in a few weeks, though...

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA                                                                                                  Courtesy:  California Security Pro

Toward the end of the month-- I will be taking all the boxes Jason and I carefully placed into storage, putting them on a moving truck and heading south for sunny California.  I've accepted a job as a Producer for the CBS Affiliate in Sacramento.

Shocked?

I am still getting over the shock of it myself.  Everything is happening so fast!  But let me fill you in on some details:

I have been talking to Sacramento since before Thanksgiving.  They were looking to fill a producer position, and while I wasn't very interested in moving at the time-- I thought it couldn't hurt to get some practice interviewing, and make some contacts.  After talking with Sacramento, they offered to fly me down.

*Note:  I was leaning heavily toward staying in Portland, but I didn't feel right saying no to Sacramento without meeting the people and seeing the newsroom.

**Second Note:  From the minute I got off the phone with CBS after my first phone interview, Jason told me: "So, you're going to Sacramento."  I told him "No" several times....  turns out he was right.  I hate when that happens!

From the minute I got off the plane, to the minute I got back on-- I was in love.  The people I met at CBS were warm, welcoming, funny, and intelligent.  The way they go about covering the area and a well-rounded group of stories from the day was inspiring to see.  It's the newsroom I've wanted to work in since getting into this business.  The news director is smart, experienced, and no-nonsense.  To be honest, I just felt at home there from the minute I walked in the door.

I kept trying to find reasons to hate the station-- so I could keep with our original plan... But that just didn't happen.

Here's a clip from their 10 pm Newscast:

Courtesy: KOVR

CBS 13 is Owned and Operated by CBS, and they like to promote from within-- so there are a lot of opportunities to grow.

I didn't get to spend much time in the City of Sacramento-- it was a one-day trip-- but from what I've read about Northern California, I'll be just fine.

I know a lot of you might be thinking:  Didn't she want to get out of the business at one point or another? 

The answer is yes.  In fact, since moving to Portland I've been looking for a way out.  I know it doesn't look like it-- but this is my way out.  It's the first time in a while that I've felt excited to be in News.  And excited to go to work for a local station.

Portland has been great for many reasons.  It brought me close to my family.  I've got to re-connect with my cousins and their awesome kids!  I've met some amazing new friends, who I will miss very dearly.  Jason and I have grown so much as a couple, and as individuals-- I've even taken some big steps to put myself first and take care of my physical and emotional health.   I love Portland-- and it will always be home.  But as far as my career, it's a dead end.

It was an incredibly difficult decision for me to make.  When I got home from the interview, I was torn on what to do.  If I stayed in Portland, it would be purely for personal reasons.  A chance to grow further into myself, and be close to family while Jason was away.  If I moved to Sacramento, it would mean an amazing career opportunity-- and I would still be near family.  I wrestled with the decision for several days...

In the end, it came down to happiness and support.  My family and friends-- while sad I could be moving away-- were incredibly supportive of the opportunity.  My grandma-- who if you remember-- I had planned to move in with, told me I would be a fool not to take the job.  I knew she was right.  And I knew I would be happier in a new place that was excited to have me, and impressed by my potential-- then to stay at a place that wasn't.

My current job is amazing for several reasons-- unfortunately, none of those reasons have to do with my career.  So I'm on to a new adventure-- and I'm pretty excited about it!

Jason will also be embarking on an amazing adventure this year!

DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA                                                                                                                                  Courtesy: Cities 2011

During my little break from blogging, he got placed at a school in Daegu, South Korea.  It's the country's fourth largest city, and is about the same size as Houston, Texas.  For Christmas, my sister-in-law made a list of "fun facts" about the city-- and we've had a great time learning all the amazing things he'll get to see.

All the details of Jason's trip have yet to be finalized.  He still hasn't received his contract-- but his recruiter told him the other day, that he should be leaving for Seoul mid-February.

So what does that mean for us?

Obviously, my move will come before he leaves the country.  He plans to stay at his current job until the end of the month.  Then, he'll go to Denver to spend some time with his bestie-- before meeting me in Sacramento.

We'll spend the two weeks before he leaves together-- and he'll fly out of San Francisco.  It's not the plan we initially had-- but we'll make it fun no matter what!

That's my update!  Thanks for sticking around for this long-winded post....

In the next few days, I'm hoping to review 2013-- talk about my accomplishments and the goals I didn't meet-- and set some goals for 2014.

I hope you all had an amazing NYE celebration.  Here's to a new year, full of exciting adventures and new possibilities.