New Job. New Address. New Life.

It has all happened so quickly. I am sure anyone from my grad program can agree. Just a few weeks ago I was barely able to enjoy the accomplishment of graduation from the worry over where my next paycheck would come from. As a non-student, I was no longer eligible for the university-sponsored jobs and internships that allowed me to squeak by as a student. I was hot on the job hunt, not sure where I would end up.

Graduation Day, admiring the windows of this grand old university building where the ceremony took place.

Here's the story: I graduated in the last week of April. In May, I traveled to San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, and Tennessee, part vacationing, part networking for job leads. I was working several leads, both in and out of Michigan, when I got an unsolicited phone call from a Detroit-area company recruiter who had seen my resume online.

My first inclination was to get off the phone, since all such contacts had been wildly inappropriate (insurance sales, for instance). But the woman on the line was able to get out the words "web marketing team" and "voted best place to work in Michigan" before I brushed her off. So she caught my attention.

Long story short, I slowly realized through the interview process that this was, indeed, an excellent opportunity to combine my past marketing skills and my newly minted graduate education in info technology. Of all the leads I was pursuing, this was the most appealing and appropriate. In the end, after several interviews and one that included the entire team (hiring processes here are democratic), I was somehow offered the excellent opportunity to work at a company considered one of the top 20 in the US to work for. It is also considered #1 place in the US for IT workers, for three years in a row. And to think I had never even heard of them. I completely overlooked them as a possibility in my Michigan based job search!

Not only is the company cool, growing, progressive, and employee centric, but the role I have is very exciting to me, and one in which I feel I can make a considerable contribution. I can't believe my good fortune. I haven't even mentioned the people I work with. Just like the savvy recruiter who knew just what to say, my coworkers are the best of the best. I really feel privileged to be able to learn from them and benefit from their support. I know it sounds corny, but this is really how I feel!!! The employees truly love working here. It's unbelievable. I've never been in a place like that. It seems lke I have been had by corporate America, I know. But this place is truly bent on individuals being the best they can be...

My coworkers: The Web Marketing Team on an Outing!!!

Ok, enough with the gushy cheer leading, right?

In other news, I just moved to a cute house on the "Old West Side" in Ann Arbor- read: where the adults live!!! I am SO happy to be living a non-student life again! I'm just blocks from the cafes and shops of main street, and I have a yard and a basement and a garage and all that adult stuff...I've never had a garage before, I realized recently. New Orleans wasn't really garage-equipped. Nor Seattle, so much. But here in Michigan, in the winter, a garage can be a real benefit!

My new house, before the paint job and gardening work....

It's so amazing how quickly things fell into place. It almost seems like a dream. I honestly wake up in the mornings going: "Oh yeah, I live and work in Michigan. That's right." It's going to take a while for my subconscious to get the hint.

Michigan farm country.

Sooo, in addition to the travels I've had around the country in recent weeks, I have also been getting to know my new home of Michigan. I have now canoed or kayaked three rivers in Michigan, been camping a few nights in a couple of different State parks (still gets cold at night here, even in June!) and plan to do more even more exploring with my dog Agnes, who is coming to live with me after being at my Mom's for two years. I've also been getting to Detroit more, exploring the music scene there and trying out some of the more famous restaurants.

Forest along the AuSable River.

Sunset from our campsite on the AuSable.

So, all in all, life is good. After struggling through school and my "lost years" of underemployment in Seattle, I feel thoroughly grateful for this simple slice of apparent security. But deeper than such an illusion of security, is the comfort that I can rise to the challenges that circumstances may fling at me or goals that I have set for myself... but NOT without the ever-present help and support of my friends and family, always.

Gratitude gratitude gratitude. It's the pervasive theme of this blog posting...

(P.S. If you're interested in seeing more recent photos, check out my flikr pages.)