summer vacation

As you can see, I took the summer off from blogging.  It wasn't done on purpose, but it was a result of being more busy than I anticipated... which is basically normal now.  The biggest distraction?  Landing a new job.  I started working on my application materials at the beginning of the summer.  I threw out my old resume (which made me look like a college student) and started fresh.  I formatted some new work samples, gathered up all the work I had been doing in my class and in the office, and prepared to put my best foot forward.  It's possible that I also bought several new shirts during the prep process... but hey, who's counting?

In early July I went on a few interviews, and the third one resulted in a job offer!  But the work wasn't over yet... the team at my old office had disintegrated, and I was responsible for hiring (which meant screening, interviewing, picking, and training) 3 new people in my last 3 weeks.  All while doing my ACTUAL job.  It was stressful and exhausting, but I left feeling good about how I handled everything, and I was rewarded with a fresh start!
I've been at my new job for almost a month now, and I can say with certainty that I made the right decision.  I'm now a Visual Communications Coordinator at a large and well-respected architecture office.  My new team is much bigger than the old team, with more varied experience and backgrounds, which I think will be really helpful for me to learn from.
Now that I'm mostly settled in, I'm hoping to get back to some regularly scheduled programming here.  PJ and I have one last hurrah in store for this summer, an RV trip going west to Pennsylvania, south to Tennessee, north to Ohio, and then back east to head home.  We leave on Saturday, and I keep telling myself to be good about documenting this trip.  I think it's going to be awesome!

Enjoy these last few days of summer, I know I will!
<3 barb="barb" p="p">