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)

Wonder of Wonder, Miracle of Miracles

I live here now.

Well not exactly here. More like here.

Getting to this point in life has been full of unexpected paths and detours. However, once I made the decision to accept the job offer and move east, miracle after miracle came and witnessed to me that this was the right decision.

• Making it to the Denver airport at the exact moment my sister needed to be picked up. You see, I left Utah a bit later than planned (surprise, surprise) and I feared she'd be waiting for me, which is never a good way to start a road trip. Her plane from Dallas landed 30 minutes late and we met right on time.
• Getting my new cell phone the day before I was supposed to leave Utah. Lesson learned: never port your number in or out of your employer. Utter nightmare.
• Squeezing one more eye doctor appointment in and having significant improvement in my vision. Good thing too since I was about to start a 3000 mile road trip. More on this later.
• Having my moving POD dropped off at the perfect time and picked up the next day to be shipped to Virginia. It all worked flawlessly. I also couldn't have done it without good friends helping me pack.
• Have you ever driven across country with anybody? My sister and I laughed, joked, talked, gabbed, slept, etc. for 60+ hours straight without any arguing, bickering, eye rolling, etc. Miracle!
• Being able to stay with cousins in both Denver and St. Louis. What a blessing both of them were as my sister and I traveled.
• Arriving at your destination with ZERO car problems. That's 3000 miles. No trouble whatsoever.

  

  Somewhere in Ohio

• Finding a place to live that I like, that's close to work, that's affordable in only two days. Mission accomplished.
• Having a seven minute commute...in Virginia.

  

  Traffic one night when I was safely at home.

• Figuring out how to get first month's rent and an equal security deposit as a money order from your bank in Utah. Let's just say the US Post Office saved the day after direct inspiration from the Lord. Huge miracle!
• Moving into a gated condo community was a hassle, especially with restricted moving times and the $500 charge to move in on a weekend. What's a girl to do? Go visit the POD company, arrange a same day delivery and pickup, and convince your new co-workers to help you unload on a Friday morning. 35 minutes later and the moving was completed. Even the POD people were surprised with how quickly the guys unloaded my stuff.

  

  Fit perfectly in my parking space

• Being able to stay with my friend in Leesburg for two weeks during the condo application process and moving coordination. It wasn't in the plan but I became great friends with the entire family.

  

  My surrogate nephews

• Getting permission from my boss two weeks into the new job to work remotely so I can be with family on Christmas.
• Running into friends from years past the first week I was in town. I've had an immediate friend base since then.
• Attending the family ward the first time and know that's exactly where I need to be. How does anyone move without the church? Instant ward family!
• Having a Relief Society President be inspired to tell me about the closest macaron store without knowing how much I love those little treats. Plus she spoiled me on my birthday. The Lord watches out for us in all things!
• Feeling no homesickness and absolutely certain with each step that this move was exactly what I needed in my life and that the Lord was involved with each detail in my life.

More pictures and stories to come. I have much to say and have kept quiet for too long.

And so it begins

1. Old job - I started out the month helping interview for my replacement. No one really stood out to me and my friend in Palo Alto reminded me when I was there visiting in September that "It's not my problem." Having multiple friends in HR has been very helpful.

My friend Annie

My friend Karen

My "Legit 50" crew

Domo rooster

So I can remember when they make it big

2. New job - The old job ended on a Friday and the new one started on a Monday. I didn't quite know what to expect and since I hadn't heard from my new boss, I spent the day packing for my move across the country. The next day I flew to San Francisco for our annual users conference where I met too many people and spent too much time helping people from the old job figure out what I had been doing. Apparently my efforts the last few months to do knowledge transfer fell on deaf ears. 

Advocate friends from Deer Valley ski trip

3. Running - In the middle of all of this, I was training for a half marathon. I really enjoyed starting the race with two of my sisters and my niece. They finished well ahead of me but I still finished close to my goal (only five minutes slower). 

Halloween Half

Finished!

4. Last minute things - I had time to get in one more cabin trip, one more BYU football game, and one more last goodbye. Tears fell multiple times.

My home :(

Cabin time

Cabin memories

Skyline drive at sunset

One more football game

One more story with Max

One more Fairbanks group hug

One more Woolston group hug

5. Eyes - I was at the eye doctor every 2-3 days. I was there so often the receptionist would call me out by name telling me she had already checked me in as I walked through the door. The doctor prescribed two different types of antibiotic drops, two different types of steroid drops, and multiple natural tears drops. My wallet hurt. My eyes hurt. And I still couldn't see clearly. I could only see clearly once I used the natural tears. Yes I drove. But my vision was only slightly worse than before the surgery so I knew how to compensate. Gratefully, the infection cleared and I had minimal to no scarring on my eyes. I continued the steroid and regular eye drops until Christmas when I saw the doctor again. Everything healed beautifully and I can see perfectly. It just took a long process to get me there.

Too many drops

6. Moving - My sister stepped into my mom's shoes and helped me drive across country. I decided to have everything shipped since I didn't know exactly where I'd be moving. Best decision! I had two cousins (one in Colorado and one in Missouri) who let us stay at their homes. Early November 1st, my sister and I rolled into Virginia...my new home. (See post here about the moving process.)

Eastern Colorado

Western Kansas

Eastern Kansas

St. Louis

Endure to the End

You know those moments where you finally sit down to finish a project, push save, refresh and realize nothing saved. Welcome to September. This post has already been written so the second go-around will probably not be as detailed, which is good for you as the previous one tended to push the TMI limits.

Source of my strength through all of this craziness!

First, the job: I finally (Whew!) received a phone call from the recruiter telling me he could officially extend the offer. So began actually applying for the job so he could move through the process, negotiating salary (thanks to my HR friend who helped me with my skills), background check, and three weeks later (seriously?!) I had an email letting me know I was moving to Virginia!

Offer letter

Second, how my boss took it: her jaw dropped as she slunk into her chair. She tried to the "whatever they offered you, we'll match it". No they couldn't. I had a really, really good offer. I gave her two weeks and she asked for three. Considering I didn't like the idea of going without a paycheck and I wanted to leave on good terms regardless of all that happened, I agreed to three weeks.

Third, family time: I took some time to check on things at my parents' house and my two nieces agreed to the quick 3-hour round trip drive. We ended the day at a pool party which is how all summers should end: by the pool. Later my aunt and I attended the James Taylor with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. Honestly, I didn't know most of his singles and neither did my aunt. Still a good time.

G-town with a Planes character

James Taylor concert

Fourth, football: I needed one more weekend in California and a friend had offered one of his tickets to the ASU v. Stanford game. In reality, this date didn't go that well. We had met once and hit it off, but for some reason this date really shut off any potential. Probably didn't help that I was moving across the country. Oh well. At least I got to see a football game. Another friend of mine offered me a ticket to the Texas v. BYU football game. That started about as bad as the Stanford date but ended on a much better note. I had never seen rain like this in Utah and only a few times here in Virginia. Wow!

Stanford stadium

BYU game right before the storm moved in

Storm coming 

The crowd cheering as the clouds moved in 

Winning the game

Fifth, running: I decided I wasn't working out and started training for a half-marathon in October. That's what I do. When I need to get healthy, I sign up for half-marathons. Not 5Ks. Half-marathons.

Sixth, being blinded: My eyesight started weakening from my LASIK surgery seven years ago. I wasn't surprised. I knew it could happen. I went from wearing coke-bottle glasses to seeing. Modern-day miracle in my opinion. But I had all this money saved up in my HSA account and I figured I should use it and touch up the LASIK. Long (very, very, very) story short. The day I went in for surgery, we discovered I had an eye infection. Many bottles of antibiotics and doctor's appointments, my eyes were primed for PRK surgery as I wasn't a candidate for LASIK after this long. FYI, PRK is harder to recover from, especially when you try and run 8 miles the next day and a different infection decides to attack your eyes rendering you blind (or at least an out of focus camera lens). Thus began a three month long journey.

Just the beginning