Made It!

Finally made it to Virginia and November. My catch up should go fast now. The first two weeks in Virginia I stayed at my college roommates place in Leesburg. Both she and her husband said I could stay as long as I needed to. Gratefully, I found a place so I didn't outstay that welcome. My new place charged me to move in on a weekend, and I wasn't about to pay that fee. I convinced the guys at my work to move my stuff in and in return I'd buy them all pizza. Worth the $50. Easiest move I've ever had.

Walk near Leesburg

Balls Bluff Battlefield

Roommates' kids

I spend most of the month acclimating myself to the area, getting lost on random roads, finding cool things from getting lost, and catching up with old friends. Staying in Virginia for Thanksgiving felt odd as I was used to being surrounded by family, but friends who were in town during that time made up for it and I discovered how much I love exploring.

Friends for 30+ years

Georgetown

Iwo Jima

Arlington Cemetery

Ford's Theatre

White house selfie with Anna

Lincoln Memorial

Birthday treat (a week early)

Virginia Visit

The day I flew to Virginia I had my second interview with Eloqua (technically Oracle since they bought Eloqua six months ago). I prepped myself for all types of questions and found I spoke probably 10% of the time. It was more about letting me know what I was getting in for. I felt good about things and flew out to DC. My friend Jon was great and helped arrange a place for me to stay and a few Fourth of July activities.

4th of July BBQ

Crowds gathered to watch the fireworks at the Jefferson Memorial

Jon also let me borrow his car to explore some Civil War Battlefields. That morning as I was driving, I got a call from the recruiter expecting to hear whether or not he was going to set up more interviews. He offered me the job instead! I was ecstatic!! Here I was in Virginia trying to figure out if I should move there and all these answers came pointing to a resounding yes! It was only 10am by this point and I called my sister in Utah hoping she was awake since it was a holiday. My favorite phone call was to my aunt who knew the depth of the trials and heartache I was feeling. I had such a great time at the battlefields and ended up just skimming through four because I knew I'd be back. I loved knowing I was going to be back.

Maybe a bit of overload

Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg (Union soldiers charged up this hill)

Chancellorsville

That night Jon and I explored the monuments and we basically had the place to ourselves. Apparently the day after the 4th of July is when you want to visit the monuments. No one wants to venture back downtown.

My favorite monument at night

I flew home on cloud nine. However, my life being what it was, I hit a roadblock. The recruiter called me back the next week with troubling news. Kinks were still being worked out due to the acquisition and apparently the product team had a hiring freeze and the team couldn't officially offer me the job until September. The recruiter and I talked things over with an understanding that I wanted the job and he wanted to offer it. Thus began two agonizing months of trying to wait patiently. This scenario surfaced many hidden feelings I'd kept bottled up and I felt myself losing it and experiencing past disappointments. My mom asked me if I was running and when I told her no, she responded, "I think you need to start running again. That seems to work for you." And she was right. Running has become the perfect therapy for me. So I ran my first official 5K race with my sister and niece at the end of July.

Temple to temple 5K

California

June 2013 was basically split into two parts: family reunion and job interviews. First the fun part, my mom surprised us all and flew to Utah to help my sister with her new baby, which meant she got to join us for out family reunion in California. I think it says a lot about my family that even with my parents in another country, we still worked out a time to spend a week together. Sadly we still missed having my brother, his wife, my brother-in-law, and my dad with us. For the drive out, I had my niece and nephew in my car, and I had a great time introducing them to 80s rock music. Needless to say, my niece had a new list of music groups and songs she wanted to download. We gathered in Folsom at my siblings houses and spent time in San Francisco and Yosemite. The pictures capture the great time we all had.

Grandma is in town

Alcatraz

Boat from Alcatraz to San Francisco

Lombard Street

Yosemite

Hiking the Mist Trail

Hiking the Mist Trail

To be two again

Yosemite Falls

Playing at the campsite

Taking a break from hiking

My kids

Yosemite redwoods

Practicing the musical number for my nephew's baptism

Happy Father's Day

While my mom was visiting, I had an accident. We were watching the kids play in the cul-de-sac when a car turned the corner. I saw my two-year-old nephew in the street and ran towards him to make sure the car didn't hit him. My feet got the better of me and slid second base style over the paver stones. I'd never been to the ER before nor had stitches. It was weird having someone other than my dad take care of me. But I got all stitched up and a year later (as I'm writing this) the scar is barely visible.

ER shots

My niece wrote me a cute note after the fall

While in California, I had the distinct impression that I should go to DC (well Northern Virginia) soon with the intention of seeing if I could live there. I had a job interview lined up the Monday after the reunion in San Francisco for a position located in Virginia. The interview was fine but I wasn't in love with the role or the company, but I felt I should move in this direction. I came back from the interview with the prayer that I'll go where the Lord wants me to go even if I'm not in love with the job and that maybe it's just one more step to get me to where I need to be. Then the miracle. I arrived at work after having this conversation with the Lord (we do that a lot while I'm driving) and saw an email from the SVP at Eloqua (the company I went skiing with back in February). He asked if I was interested in a job. Within a week I was chatting with a Sr. Director for a product management position. They basically said, "We can teach you to be a product manager. We can't teach you to think like a marketer. And we need a marketer." I knew this was my answer. This job was going to happen. It was based in northern Virginia and I already had a ticket to fly there the week after to see if this was going to be a good fit for me. The wheels were in motion and my life was about to change in a fantastic new direction.

Let No Man Forget That You Are From Old Virginia!

In October, I went to Virginia to visit a dear friend. He had been inviting me to come visit him for a year or two and I finally stopped waiting for the perfect time and made it happen. Before you start wondering anything about us, the timing of the trip coincided with a bunch of social activities so he could introduce me to guys he has been scoping out for me. Though it was fun to meet new people, the highlights of the trip include visiting historical sights and catching up with old friends.

At the DC Temple

Civil War battle re-enactment at Balls Bluff

Listen to those cannons!

My good friend Cheryl

Trip to Monticello