Birthday Month

Do you know what's better than having your birthday in December? Actually knowing people where I live when it's my birthday. First on the agenda: Good Eats and free food. Got a free shake for it being my birthday.

Then off to the National Christmas tree. Apparently school children decorated each individual state tree. This year Google helped coordinate all the trees so all the state trees looked the same which made it quite lackluster.

How do you spell Tennessee? (See the generic state tree?)

A real tree exists under there somewhere

The next day we capped off the night with A Muppet Christmas Carol because why not. Day two we traveled to Harper's Ferry for An Olde Tyme Christmas which I thought would be a mix of Charles Dickens + southern charm + Christmas. What it really turned out to be was Civil War 1864 "the city was under martial law" Christmas. Turned out to be pretty cool just the same.

Civil War Santa and me

Harper's Ferry

Then the next week my friend and I went to dinner at Qdoba (one of my favorite quick food places) and then to see A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theatre. I wasn't sure what to expect as I love Hale Center Theatre's version and I didn't want to be disappointed. Well, I wasn't. It was fantastic! I loved it! Plus the setting could not have been better.

The week after my birthday, I gathered at Arlington National Cemetery with a few of my closest friends and thousands of other people to place wreaths on the graves. What a spiritual experience as we were asked to read the name of each soldier before placing a wreath on his or her grave, one by one. This individual act reminded so much of the work we perform in the temple. Very moving!

Afterwards, we grabbed lunch together. While eating, another friend invited me to the Antietam Luminaries that night, leaving around 10pm. I had to teach a lesson the next day and already had a jam packed day so of course I said yes. Once again, my reckless care for my sleep and need to feed my adventurous spirt paid off. My birthday week was top notch!

Antietam Luminaries

Awe-inspiring

Finally, I was not going to go another Christmas without a tree. Craigslist to the rescue. I found a tree for $25 and it was the best money I spent. Merry Christmas!

Yes the tree topper is Mickey Mouse Santa hat

A friend and me at the White House right before Christmas

Patiently Waiting

Painful doesn't begin to describe August. Imagine trying to do a job and create and implement long-term plans all the while you know you are leaving. Well, you think you are. The company keeps reassuring you they want to hire you and once September hits they can. The limbo of emotions drove me crazy. So, I did what any sane person would do, I went to DisneyWorld to celebrate my sister's birthday.

That week ended up being crazy! I confirmed weeks in advance that I could be on vacation that week in August, and right before I went, marketing and sales decided to implement a new sales paradigm that required me to help with the new integration. Not happy. I ended up working before and after our Orlando adventures. Did I say I wasn't happy? That didn't help with the see-saw emotions. Another sister sent her two sons to join us which made for a great time.

Sea World

Sea World

NASA

NASA

Atlantis Space Shuttle - NASA

NASA

Downtown Disney - Sleeping Beauty all done in Legos

Epcot - Happy Birthday Kath!

Epcot

This may have been breakfast and dinner

Epcot

Animal Kingdom

I also had the chance to attend BYU MBA's marketing adventure in Moab. It reminded me of being a first year student and I had a great time networking with fellow alumni and old friends. 

Corona Arch

Delicate Arch

When the scriptures talk about enduring to the end, I think August sums up that scripture perfectly.

These are the kinds of texts I get from my brother. Love him!

Nephew's blessing day

Many faces of Max

Helping him rock climb

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

Pavilions

My memories of May have thwarted my attempts at updating this blog many times. Even now, I want to skip this month because of the feelings these memories evoke. Here goes.

Interviews were going well and I had a flyback for a job in Charleston, South Carolina the first week in May. I had arranged to fly out on a Saturday so I could spend Sunday getting a sense of whether moving to SC was a good decision for me. I loved visiting this place. But was it a place I should live?

The answer came as I was packing for the trip. I felt restless, uneasy, anxious. I didn't recognize the feelings for what they were. It took traveling across the country to really figure it out, but I knew something was wrong even before I got on the plane. I arrived to the city rather late that day and only had time to grab some dinner before heading to my hotel.

The next morning, I felt sick. That feeling of "What am I doing here?!" and "I'm crazy for thinking I could move here. I'd have no social life!" kept hounding me. I found a local church building and was so grateful it was Fast Sunday. I needed that extra help. I remember talking to a woman in the hallway about why I was in town and I think the combination of my mom being out of the country and me needing just to talk, I ended up spilling everything to this woman. By the time I slowed down and gave her a chance to speak, she summed up all my feelings in one phrase: You already know the answer. And she was right. I knew. But I hadn't figured that out yet.

After church, I drove up to Cypress Gardens and walked around. It was kind of drizzly but I was still able to get some good pictures and have time to think about what I really wanted.

Cypress Gardens

I decided to take a drive into the city and walk around. I was thinking a lot about Elder Eyring's talk from the last general conference about pavilions and wondered what that meant for me. As I was walking along the battery, a couple stopped me. They had just gotten engaged and asked if I would take their picture. An interesting moment happened for me then. I realized the Lord was sending me a message that he was aware of me and what I really wanted in life. I had no guarantee of getting what I wanted, but I knew the Lord would take care of me, and much like Elder Eyring's daughter-in-law, I finally felt peace after months of anguish.

My pavilion moment on the battery; picture is from a trip a few years ago

The rain began falling soon after that and I ran for my car and drove to my hotel. The rain came and came and came and came, etc. I had never witnessed such a thunderstorm. Definitely a tempest tossed sea. The next morning brought blue, clear skies, so I woke up early and drove to my happy place: the beach.

Morning sailboat

Fort Moultrie

Isle of Palms

The interviews went well. In fact, a week or so later they offered me the job. I couldn't take it. I knew that before I even had the interview. So I continued forward with the job search which included a company in Arlington, Virginia. I had always wanted to live in Virginia but chickened out because it was so far from home and family. On the battery in Charleston, I promised the Lord I would go anywhere he needed me to be, that any location was on the table, so Virginia became a reality of that possibility. By the end of May, all that was left to do was schedule a flyback with this new company. They wanted me to go back the week I was on a family vacation so the interview was postponed to the third week of June.

Being silly with work friends

My sister and her husband planned on moving to California soon and I wanted one more visit to Chicago before they left. Gratefully, Memorial Day weekend gave me that chance. We had a great time seeing the city, playing at home, and eating really good food.

wiffle ball+lacrosse+bumper cars=whirlyball

Sisters - Not twins

Love this family

Restaurant entertainment

At the Chicago LDS Temple

Chicago Botanical Gardens

Chicago Botanical Gardens