The Last Days...

This past week was quiet in the office for me which was nice. Monday was MLK Day, so I went ahead and took Nora to the sitter’s house so I could just have a day to do stuff. It was awesome and productive. One of the best accomplishments was updating Nora’s baby book - yes! 

Up-to-date!

Wednesday was my last day riding the bus after almost 12 years. I started taking the bus in 2002 when I was a co-op for Landor. My new location does not have a direct route and while I could transfer, my time is worth more nowadays. I’m really going to miss that alone, quite, decompressing time. Did I mention the naps too? 

Wednesday morning my oral care team took me out to breakfast at First Watch - it was extremely sweet and yummy.

Thursday was my last day in the office. I had absolutely nothing scheduled by means of a “farewell.” Ouch. By lunchtime a few girls wanted to take me out for lunch at Via Vite - super sweet. It was a really nice lunch with good friends. 

By the time I got back from lunch, there was an all-office happy hour scheduled in our space at 4pm for my farewell - whew! 

There were 3 huge buckets of drinks and tons of snacks. It was nice saying goodbye to my close acquaintances and laughing on last time with my peers. 

Thursday was very surreal and I think it will finally hit me when I go into the new job on Tuesday.

I left at 5:15 with the last of my things and headed to my book club in Loveland… and that’s a whole different story of a battle against traffic.

Cozy Winter Days

This weekend was nice and quiet. We got together with my college friends which is always fun - three of us couples who take turns hosting. Between the 3 families are 3 girls so far; Alice is 5, Nora is 2 and Adrian will be 1 in two weeks! Alice and Nora keep each other occupied which is great - it makes having a second child very appealing; keeping each other entertained! 

My college friend Tim reading to his daughter, Alice, & Nora

Today we only left the house for groceries and to get our runs in. Tim grabbed a huge box from the basement and cut a door and windows for Nora to have a playhouse! She loves it! brought a chair and toys in. Today she brought a pillow and blanket in to “nap.” 

An aerial of the tiny house

Big box!

Mommy & Nora in the hizzy!

Nora & Mommy barely fit inside!

Weekend morning

Nora wanted to be a kangaroo.

Baby Kangaroo!

We actually ordered a Papa John’s pizza for dinner [Tim and I have been craving carryout pizza and rarely get it] and I made some pumpkin chocolate chip bread for rooting on the Broncos and Seahawks today! 

Dad’s B-day

My parents came down Sunday the 12th to celebrate my Dad’s birthday - I wanted to take him to 50West Brewery because I think they have great beers, good food and a cozy atmosphere. We got there before 5pm for Nora’s sake. Luckily we got a back corner booth and I tried to bring some items to keep Nora occupied. 

We ate lots of appetizers and Tim & Dad got meals. Nora did fairly well, but as 2-year olds do, became very wiggly after about 30 minutes. 

Nora had a good time wishing Grandpa Happy Birthday!

2014 - Already Big Changes

*Written on New Year’s Eve 2013

So this year has already started off with a bang… and it all happened over the course of 2 weeks.

Monday, Dec 16th I had a fun dinner with friends, one of whom is a gal who used to work at Landor. She just moved back to Cincy and is working at a small studio founded by [and employed] with ex-Landor employees. Not intentionally. 

This gal, Emily, said they were looking to hire creatives quickly. Emily absolutely loves it; she works part-time, loves the work she’s creating, enjoys the people in the studio and has a very positive attitude about all of it. One of the founders heard Emily was seeing me this night and thought that maybe I’d be interested in hearing about the place and work they do…

Let me state, I really enjoy my job at Landor. Mainly, I love the people. The work is decent - the brands I work on take a while to get on shelf, mostly packaging, there is rigorous process that takes a long time. The wages are fair, but we’re owned by a larger parent company which makes raises, bonuses and promotions very hard. However, I’ve been treated well and it’s been solid. And again, I love everyone like family. 

On Dec 27th I met with the founders of this newer creative consultancy, goDutch. I know/have worked with one, the other I did not know, but he’s also an ex-Landorian. 5 of the 6 other employees I’ve worked with at Landor - ! So I already know all the ladies and they’re all lovely and great at what they do. I asked questions. I was intrigued. 

Once all my questions were answered, I felt like after 10 years in my comfort zone, an opportunity has been nearly handed to me and it will probably never happen again. It’s time to jump. I love Landor, but I don’t want my entire career to be defined by it. This small studio has a variety of work that everyone touches and everyone rolls up their sleeves to create. 

This morning [New Years’ Eve] I drove down there again to finalize things and officially agreed to their offer. Holy cow. I’m pretty anxious but in a good way. Leaving my bubble after 10 years is scary, but I think it’s time to shake things up. 

Now I just have to break the news to my team next Monday, Jan 6th… vomit. Wish me luck, it’s going to be excruciating. 

January 8th

I broke the news to my director and peers this past Monday and Tuesday - everyone has been super sweet and accepting. It feels a bit surreal and I think I’ll be a little emotional when it’s time to leave. 

Here’s to a new year and a new job! *clink!*

Now This Is Cold

Riding the bus Friday morning, it was 5˚ outside. Anything fashionable was out the door. Function over form. Two pairs of socks, heavy wool sweater, massive scarf and even a hat! If you know me, you know I never wore hats due to my short ‘do - prissy, I know. Now that the hair is long, I’ve evolved. 

Anyway, waiting on the bus wasn’t too terrible since I was SO bundled up. However, our bus was not warm. Maybe 55˚ - dude. It’s common with this particular bus driver so I have vowed next time he’s driving us, I’m walking up and asking him if the heat is broken. My toes never warmed up until I was in the office, after my coffee around 9:30am. 

I had a run this morning with 3 other girlfriends at 11am thankfully - and the temps were around 30˚ then - woohoo! I fared well, my toes had it the worst, but after our 3 miles, they’d come back around. Not to mention the 4 of us had Bloody Marys afterwards - holler! 

Nora was able to get out of the house for a Target run with Daddy, but we’ve been trying to find fun activities indoors for a while now!

We pulled out the old Boppy and Nora pretended to be a baby.

Rocketship with friends!

She’s in a house. She’s not homeless, I swear.