Moving on up

So, I know it has been awhile since I have had anything to really blog about. I have had small stuff here and there but nothing major... yet. See, I have been up to something major but I just could not talk about it yet. Well now that it is official I can tell you... We are moving on up...

This is a long blog but just hang in there with me. It definitely makes up for all the blogs I did not write.

It all started back in February of this year. A someone knew I was looking for a job and they suggested that I apply with the place they work at. After giving it a great deal of thought, Doug and I decided I should apply so I submitted my resume. I knew it was a long shot but they called me back and asked me to come in for an interview. Now 6 months later, I was offered the job and I accepted.

Are you ready for the shocker? The job is in Baltimore, Maryland. Now do you get the "Moving on up" part?

Since March I have been flying up to Maryland to interview and do all sorts of stuff for the job. It has been a very long process and I reached my breaking point a few times through the journey.

The first time I flew up was the first time I had ever flown by myself. Nervous was an understatement for me. I, being my planner of a self, called ahead and had every detail planned and every question answered. I had to leave work at 4 to catch my plane at 5:30 pm. Of course, the flight was delayed. I had to run to catch my connecting flight in Charlotte, NC. I got into Baltimore around 10 pm. Everything was closed when I got there so I was not able to eat anything. I got my first bite of food (pretzels from the hotels' vending machine) since lunch at around 11 pm. Yay! I got up at 5 the next morning to be at my interview at 7:30. I was done and at the airport for my 5 o'clock flight at noon. Yay! So I went and found a burger place that sold beer and ordered my first round. I got home that night around 10 pm. It was a long 24 hours.

The second time I flew up was a little better. I had to be there on a Monday so I had all day to fly up on Sunday. This time I actually got to eat! It was great... until my first meeting on Monday. My meeting did not go as smoothly as I would have liked it to have and they told me I may need to come back up there. This was not an option because I was out of vacation time. If I went back up there I was going to have to take time off not paid and I did not know if my work would allow me to do that since we are short staffed. Enter breakdown #1. And yes, I did it in front of everyone. The person I was meeting with, the receptionist, the shuttle bus driver, and Doug (when I called him after I got back to the hotel). I was done. I was not going to my other meeting the next morning. I was coming home. The next morning I got up and went to my meeting.

I was done early Tuesday morning so when I checked in at the airport I changed my flight to an earlier one. Instead of getting in at 10 I was suppose to get in at 8! So I went and found some lunch and relaxed. Everything was going smoothly until they announced (after we boarded the plane) that the flight was delayed due to the bad storm between Maryland and North Carolina. They gave us the option to get off the plane but they predicted we should get to take off in less than an hour. Well, it was a little more than an hour but not much. They had to route our trip around the storm. There were tons of planes having to do this and still in the air so we had to wait since we were still on the ground. Because we were delayed and our flight was longer due to the "new" route, I missed my connecting flight at 7 in Charlotte. Doug called and got me on the next flight out so I RAN (OMG I am so out of shape!)to catch it. Guess what! By the time I got to the gate the flight got delayed. Yay! I was in tears by this point. Enter breakdown #2. All I wanted to do was go home. After a few more delays I landed in Augusta at 11:00 pm. Yep. An hour after my original flight was suppose to be there. I vowed to not fly again for awhile.

Two weeks later, in June, I got a call saying they wanted me to come back up there the next week. I was very surprised they wanted me back up there so soon and with so little notice. So insert break down #3. Now grant it, there was a lot of other stuff going on that added to this breakdown but they key factor was I had to cancel my Florida trip with my parents. I was SO looking forward to it and I was only a week away. I started questioning whether this job was worth all the sacrifices I had been making for it. The hardest part was calling Mom to tell her. I could barely get the sentence out from fighting back all the tears.

So since Doug and I were already off on vacation Wed-Fri and my appointment was on Thursday, we decided to drive up on Wednesday and stay through Saturday. I was out of vacation time and we did not know if we would get another chance to look at places to live so we figured this was the perfect opportunity to get some house hunting time in. I was dreading the LONG drive up but was very happy that I had Doug with me this time.

The drive was very long but not horrible. We thought we would never get out of Virginia. And of course traffic was lovely in DC and around Baltimore where our hotel was. Of course, when we got to the hotel I realized I had forgot to pack something (so much for my OCD packing list!)so we climbed back in the car in search of a store. By the time we got back and ate I was dead asleep.

My meeting, once again, did not go the way I wanted it to and they told me I would have to come back the next week and try again. Insert breakdown #4. This one was smaller than the others but a breakdown none-the-less. And once again I did it in front of the person I was meeting with, the receptionist, and the shuttle bus driver. I waited until I calmed down to call my boss and let him know I was going to have to be off again the next week. I think he was really happy to hear that, again... We spent the rest of our trip riding around looking for a place to live. It was hard since we still did not have a moving date but we found some nice places. I am still in sticker shock. I do not think I will ever get use to paying that (double!)for a place smaller than what we have now. We ate at some great places and we went down to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. (See next blog for pictures.) If you know me, you know I love Excel documents. I have one for everything! So of course I did a comparison document of the places we looked at to help us decide which one was the best for us. It really helped since we we had two tied for 1st place.

So here we are, 4th trip to Baltimore. This time I flew up by myself again. We were having a yard sale on Saturday so Doug had to stay and get everything ready for that. Boy was that a stressful week! Flying up went ok. We were delayed in Charlotte (like always) but nothing too bad. My meeting Thursday morning went really well! At this point, I truly believe this was my last trip up here! I expected to get an official offer very soon! After the meeting I headed to the airport (at 2 for a 8 pm flight). Around 6 I saw the flight to Charlotte was delayed. Delayed so much that I would miss the last and final flight to Augusta. Yay! So I called and rescheduled my flight to 7 am the next morning. Then I caught a shuttle bus back to the hotel... No insert of breakdown #5 here. I was upset and mad but it had become normal for me now. And once again I vowed to NEVER fly again (at least through Charlotte or Baltimore using US Airways)!!!!

So here we are, 8 weeks after my last trip. Those were some rough weeks, waiting and waiting with nothing but silence. No phone calls. No e-mails. Then finally! The phone call I had been waiting on came.

Now that I have told you about my experience, let me tell you about the job. It is with the Department of Defense and I will be in the accounting department. I do not know exactly what I will be doing yet but that is why I am going to Maryland. I will "train" up there and they are sending me to get my Masters degree. I am hoping that once I am done I will be able to move back to Augusta. But who knows. I may get up there and LOVE it. The process has been long because that is the way the government works but I hope it will all pay off in the end.

It's been a long journey so far and it has only just began. I hope to take you along with me through my blog. We are already planning tons of trips to places in the Northeast we may have never been able to go to before. I already miss my family and friends here in Augusta but I promise I will keep in touch and visit as often as I can. Love you all and thank you to those who have been with me since I started this journey. Your support (and your ability to keep secrets) means the world to me!